Package java.lang

Interface Comparable<T>

All Known Subinterfaces:

Delayed, RunnableScheduledFuture<V>, ScheduledFuture<V>

All Known Implementing Classes:

AlphabeticIndex.Bucket.LabelType, Annotation, AsyncTask.Status, Authenticator.RequestorType, BigDecimal, BigDecimal, BigInteger, BinaryHprof.ControlSettings, BinaryHprof.Tag, Boolean, BuddhistCalendar, Byte, ByteArrayWrapper, ByteBuffer, BytesTrie.Result, ByteString, Calendar, Calendar, CertificateEntry.LogEntryType, Character, CharBuffer, Charset, CharsetMatch, ChineseCalendar, CipherSuite, ClientInfoStatus, CollationKey, CollationKey, CollationKeyICU, CompactDecimalFormat.CompactStyle, Configuration, CopticCalendar, CRLReason, Currency.CurrencyUsage, DangiCalendar, Date, Date, DateFormat.BooleanAttribute, DigitallySigned.HashAlgorithm, DigitallySigned.SignatureAlgorithm, DisplayContext, DisplayContext.Type, Double, DoubleBuffer, ElementType, EncodedValue, Enum, ErrorCode, EthiopicCalendar, FieldId, File, Float, FloatBuffer, Formatter.BigDecimalLayoutForm, GenderInfo.Gender, GenderInfo.ListGenderStyle, GregorianCalendar, GregorianCalendar, HeadersMode, HebrewCalendar, HprofData.ThreadEventType, ICUResource.Key, ICUResourceBundle.OpenType, IDNA.Error, IndianCalendar, IntBuffer, Integer, IslamicCalendar, IslamicCalendar.CalculationType, JapaneseCalendar, KeyRep.Type, ListFormatter.Style, LocaleDisplayNames.DialectHandling, LocaleDisplayNamesImpl.DataTableType, Long, LongBuffer, MappedByteBuffer, MeasureFormat.FormatWidth, MessagePattern.ApostropheMode, MessagePattern.ArgType, MessagePattern.Part.Type, MessagePatternUtil.MessageContentsNode.Type, MethodId, Normalizer.Form, Normalizer2.Mode, ObjectStreamField, OpenSSLCipher.Mode, OpenSSLCipher.Padding, PersianCalendar, PKIFailureInfo, PKIStatus, PluralRanges, PluralRules.FixedDecimal, PluralRules.KeywordStatus, PluralRules.PluralType, PluralRules.SampleType, PluralRules.StandardPluralCategories, Protocol, ProtoId, Proxy.Type, RawCollationKey, Region, Region.RegionType, RelativeDateTimeFormatter.AbsoluteUnit, RelativeDateTimeFormatter.Direction, RelativeDateTimeFormatter.RelativeUnit, RelativeDateTimeFormatter.Style, RetentionPolicy, RoundingMode, Row, Row.R2, Row.R3, Row.R4, Row.R5, RowIdLifetime, SdkConstant.SdkConstantType, SearchIterator.ElementComparisonType, Short, ShortBuffer, SignedCertificateTimestamp.Origin, SignedCertificateTimestamp.SignatureType, SignedCertificateTimestamp.Version, SpoofChecker.RestrictionLevel, SSLEngineResult.HandshakeStatus, SSLEngineResult.Status, String, StringTrieBuilder.Option, TableOfContents.Section, TaiwanCalendar, Thread.State, Time, Timestamp, TimeUnit, TimeZone.SystemTimeZoneType, TimeZoneFormat.GMTOffsetPatternType, TimeZoneFormat.ParseOption, TimeZoneFormat.Style, TimeZoneFormat.TimeType, TimeZoneGenericNames.GenericNameType, TimeZoneGenericNames.Pattern, TimeZoneNames.NameType, TlsVersion, TypeList, ULocale, ULocale.Category, ULocale.Minimize, UnicodeSet, UnicodeSet.ComparisonStyle, UnicodeSet.SpanCondition, UnicodeSetSpanner.CountMethod, UnicodeSetSpanner.TrimOption, URI, UScript.ScriptUsage, UUID, VerifiedSCT.Status, VersionInfo, Xml.Encoding

public interface Comparable<T>

This interface should be implemented by all classes that wish to define a natural order of their instances. Collections.sort(java.util.List<T>) and java.util.Arrays#sort can then be used to automatically sort lists of classes that implement this interface.

The order rule must be both transitive (if x.compareTo(y) < 0 and y.compareTo(z) < 0, then x.compareTo(z) < 0 must hold) and invertible (the sign of the result of x.compareTo(y) must be equal to the negation of the sign of the result of y.compareTo(x) for all combinations of x and y).

In addition, it is recommended (but not required) that if and only if the result of x.compareTo(y) is zero, then the result of x.equals(y) should be true.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
int	compareTo(T another)	Compares this object to the specified object to determine their relative order.

Method Detail

compareTo

int compareTo(T another)

Compares this object to the specified object to determine their relative order.

Parameters:

another - the object to compare to this instance.

Returns:

a negative integer if this instance is less than another; a positive integer if this instance is greater than another; 0 if this instance has the same order as another.

Throws:

ClassCastException - if another cannot be converted into something comparable to this instance.