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25 
26 package java.util.regex;
27 
28 /**
29  * The result of a match operation.
30  *
31  * <p>This interface contains query methods used to determine the
32  * results of a match against a regular expression. The match boundaries,
33  * groups and group boundaries can be seen but not modified through
34  * a <code>MatchResult</code>.
35  *
36  * @author  Michael McCloskey
37  * @see Matcher
38  * @since 1.5
39  */
40 public interface MatchResult {
41 
42     /**
43      * Returns the start index of the match.
44      *
45      * @return  The index of the first character matched
46      *
47      * @throws  IllegalStateException
48      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
49      *          or if the previous match operation failed
50      */
start()51     public int start();
52 
53     /**
54      * Returns the start index of the subsequence captured by the given group
55      * during this match.
56      *
57      * <p> <a href="Pattern.html#cg">Capturing groups</a> are indexed from left
58      * to right, starting at one.  Group zero denotes the entire pattern, so
59      * the expression <i>m.</i><tt>start(0)</tt> is equivalent to
60      * <i>m.</i><tt>start()</tt>.  </p>
61      *
62      * @param  group
63      *         The index of a capturing group in this matcher's pattern
64      *
65      * @return  The index of the first character captured by the group,
66      *          or <tt>-1</tt> if the match was successful but the group
67      *          itself did not match anything
68      *
69      * @throws  IllegalStateException
70      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
71      *          or if the previous match operation failed
72      *
73      * @throws  IndexOutOfBoundsException
74      *          If there is no capturing group in the pattern
75      *          with the given index
76      */
start(int group)77     public int start(int group);
78 
79     /**
80      * Returns the offset after the last character matched.
81      *
82      * @return  The offset after the last character matched
83      *
84      * @throws  IllegalStateException
85      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
86      *          or if the previous match operation failed
87      */
end()88     public int end();
89 
90     /**
91      * Returns the offset after the last character of the subsequence
92      * captured by the given group during this match.
93      *
94      * <p> <a href="Pattern.html#cg">Capturing groups</a> are indexed from left
95      * to right, starting at one.  Group zero denotes the entire pattern, so
96      * the expression <i>m.</i><tt>end(0)</tt> is equivalent to
97      * <i>m.</i><tt>end()</tt>.  </p>
98      *
99      * @param  group
100      *         The index of a capturing group in this matcher's pattern
101      *
102      * @return  The offset after the last character captured by the group,
103      *          or <tt>-1</tt> if the match was successful
104      *          but the group itself did not match anything
105      *
106      * @throws  IllegalStateException
107      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
108      *          or if the previous match operation failed
109      *
110      * @throws  IndexOutOfBoundsException
111      *          If there is no capturing group in the pattern
112      *          with the given index
113      */
end(int group)114     public int end(int group);
115 
116     /**
117      * Returns the input subsequence matched by the previous match.
118      *
119      * <p> For a matcher <i>m</i> with input sequence <i>s</i>,
120      * the expressions <i>m.</i><tt>group()</tt> and
121      * <i>s.</i><tt>substring(</tt><i>m.</i><tt>start(),</tt>&nbsp;<i>m.</i><tt>end())</tt>
122      * are equivalent.  </p>
123      *
124      * <p> Note that some patterns, for example <tt>a*</tt>, match the empty
125      * string.  This method will return the empty string when the pattern
126      * successfully matches the empty string in the input.  </p>
127      *
128      * @return The (possibly empty) subsequence matched by the previous match,
129      *         in string form
130      *
131      * @throws  IllegalStateException
132      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
133      *          or if the previous match operation failed
134      */
group()135     public String group();
136 
137     /**
138      * Returns the input subsequence captured by the given group during the
139      * previous match operation.
140      *
141      * <p> For a matcher <i>m</i>, input sequence <i>s</i>, and group index
142      * <i>g</i>, the expressions <i>m.</i><tt>group(</tt><i>g</i><tt>)</tt> and
143      * <i>s.</i><tt>substring(</tt><i>m.</i><tt>start(</tt><i>g</i><tt>),</tt>&nbsp;<i>m.</i><tt>end(</tt><i>g</i><tt>))</tt>
144      * are equivalent.  </p>
145      *
146      * <p> <a href="Pattern.html#cg">Capturing groups</a> are indexed from left
147      * to right, starting at one.  Group zero denotes the entire pattern, so
148      * the expression <tt>m.group(0)</tt> is equivalent to <tt>m.group()</tt>.
149      * </p>
150      *
151      * <p> If the match was successful but the group specified failed to match
152      * any part of the input sequence, then <tt>null</tt> is returned. Note
153      * that some groups, for example <tt>(a*)</tt>, match the empty string.
154      * This method will return the empty string when such a group successfully
155      * matches the empty string in the input.  </p>
156      *
157      * @param  group
158      *         The index of a capturing group in this matcher's pattern
159      *
160      * @return  The (possibly empty) subsequence captured by the group
161      *          during the previous match, or <tt>null</tt> if the group
162      *          failed to match part of the input
163      *
164      * @throws  IllegalStateException
165      *          If no match has yet been attempted,
166      *          or if the previous match operation failed
167      *
168      * @throws  IndexOutOfBoundsException
169      *          If there is no capturing group in the pattern
170      *          with the given index
171      */
group(int group)172     public String group(int group);
173 
174     /**
175      * Returns the number of capturing groups in this match result's pattern.
176      *
177      * <p> Group zero denotes the entire pattern by convention. It is not
178      * included in this count.
179      *
180      * <p> Any non-negative integer smaller than or equal to the value
181      * returned by this method is guaranteed to be a valid group index for
182      * this matcher.  </p>
183      *
184      * @return The number of capturing groups in this matcher's pattern
185      */
groupCount()186     public int groupCount();
187 
188 }
189