Java(TM) 2 Platform, Standard Edition, v1.2.2 API Specification: Package java.text

Package java.text

Interface Summary
*AttributedCharacterIterator*	An AttributedCharacterIterator allows iteration through both text and related attribute information.
*CharacterIterator*	This interface defines a protocol for bidirectional iteration over text.

Class Summary
Annotation	An Annotation object is used as a wrapper for a text attribute value if the attribute has annotation characteristics.
AttributedCharacterIterator.Attribute	Defines attribute keys that are used to identify text attributes.
AttributedString	An AttributedString holds text and related attribute information.
BreakIterator	The `BreakIterator` class implements methods for finding the location of boundaries in text.
ChoiceFormat	A `ChoiceFormat` allows you to attach a format to a range of numbers.
CollationElementIterator	The `CollationElementIterator` class is used as an iterator to walk through each character of an international string.
CollationKey	A `CollationKey` represents a `String` under the rules of a specific `Collator` object.
Collator	The `Collator` class performs locale-sensitive `String` comparison.
DateFormat	DateFormat is an abstract class for date/time formatting subclasses which formats and parses dates or time in a language-independent manner.
DateFormatSymbols	`DateFormatSymbols` is a public class for encapsulating localizable date-time formatting data, such as the names of the months, the names of the days of the week, and the time zone data.
DecimalFormat	`DecimalFormat` is a concrete subclass of `NumberFormat` for formatting decimal numbers.
DecimalFormatSymbols	This class represents the set of symbols (such as the decimal separator, the grouping separator, and so on) needed by `DecimalFormat` to format numbers.
FieldPosition	`FieldPosition` is a simple class used by `Format` and its subclasses to identify fields in formatted output.
Format	`Format` is an abstract base class for formatting locale-sensitive information such as dates, messages, and numbers.
MessageFormat	`MessageFormat` provides a means to produce concatenated messages in language-neutral way.
NumberFormat	`NumberFormat` is the abstract base class for all number formats.
ParsePosition	`ParsePosition` is a simple class used by `Format` and its subclasses to keep track of the current position during parsing.
RuleBasedCollator	The `RuleBasedCollator` class is a concrete subclass of `Collator` that provides a simple, data-driven, table collator.
SimpleDateFormat	`SimpleDateFormat` is a concrete class for formatting and parsing dates in a locale-sensitive manner.
StringCharacterIterator	`StringCharacterIterator` implements the `CharacterIterater` protocol for a `String`.

Exception Summary
ParseException	Signals that an error has been reached unexpectedly while parsing.

Package java.text Description

Provides classes and interfaces for handling text, dates, numbers, currency, messages and collation in a manner independent of natural languages. This means your main application or applet can be written to be language-independent, and it can rely upon separate, dynamically-linked localized resources. This allows the flexibility of adding localizations for new localizations at any time.

These classes are capable of formatting dates, numbers, and messages, parsing; searching and sorting strings; and iterating over characters, words, sentences, and line breaks. This package contains three main groups of classes and interfaces:

Classes for formatting and parsing
Classes for iteration over text
Classes for string collation

Formatting and Parsing

FormattingParsing

Dates and numbers are represented internally in a locale-independent way. For example, dates are kept as milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UCT. When these objects are printed or displayed, they must be converted to localized strings. The locale-specific parts of a date string, such as the time zone string, are separately imported from a locale-specific resource bundle.

The format() method converts the Date object from -604656780000 milliseconds to the form "Tuesday, November 3, 1997 9:47am CST" for the U. S. English locale. The figure shows how the format() method of subclasses of Format enable instances of Number, Date, String, and other objects to be formatted to locale-specific strings.

Conversely, the parseObject() method (and parse() method in subclasses) perform the reverse operation of parsing localized strings and converting them to Number, Date, and String objects. The figure shows how the parse() method is complementary to format(). Any String formatted by format() is guaranteed to be parseable by parseObject().

Java provides six subclasses of Format for formatting dates, numbers, and messages: DateFormat, SimpleDateFormat, NumberFormat, DecimalFormat, ChoiceFormat, and MessageFormat.

String Collation

collate"CollatorRuleBasedCollator

Collator is an abstract base class. Subclasses implement specific collation strategies. One subclass, RuleBasedCollator, is currently provided and is applicable to a wide set of languages. Other subclasses may be created to handle more specialized needs. CollationElementIterator provides an iterator for stepping through each character of a locale-specific string according to the rules of a specific Collator object. CollationKey enables fast sorting of strings by representing a string as a sort key under the rules of a specific Collator object.

Word Breaks

charCharacteruser characterBreakIterator

Locale-Sensitive Classes

Locale-Sensitive Classes	Locale-Independent Classes
NumberFormat DecimalFormat DecimalFormatSymbols MessageFormat DateFormat SimpleDateFormat DateFormatSymbols Collator RuleBasedCollator CollationElementIterator CollationKey BreakIterator	Format ChoiceFormat FieldPosition ParsePosition ParseException StringCharacterIterator CharacterIterator

Package Specification

Related Documentation

java.lang.Character (for getType)
java.util.Locale
java.util.Calendar
java.util.GregorianCalendar
java.util.Date
java.util.ResourceBundle
java.util.ListResourceBundle
java.util.PropertyResourceBundle
java.util.TimeZone
java.util.SimpleTimeZone

Since:

JDK1.1