K - the type of keys maintained by this mapV - the type of mapped valuespublic interface SortedMap<K,V> extends Map<K,V>
Map that further provides a total ordering on its keys.
 The map is ordered according to the natural
 ordering of its keys, or by a Comparator typically
 provided at sorted map creation time.  This order is reflected when
 iterating over the sorted map's collection views (returned by the
 entrySet, keySet and values methods).
 Several additional operations are provided to take advantage of the
 ordering.  (This interface is the map analogue of SortedSet.)
 All keys inserted into a sorted map must implement the Comparable
 interface (or be accepted by the specified comparator).  Furthermore, all
 such keys must be mutually comparable: k1.compareTo(k2) (or
 comparator.compare(k1, k2)) must not throw a
 ClassCastException for any keys k1 and k2 in
 the sorted map.  Attempts to violate this restriction will cause the
 offending method or constructor invocation to throw a
 ClassCastException.
 
Note that the ordering maintained by a sorted map (whether or not an
 explicit comparator is provided) must be consistent with equals if
 the sorted map is to correctly implement the Map interface.  (See
 the Comparable interface or Comparator interface for a
 precise definition of consistent with equals.)  This is so because
 the Map interface is defined in terms of the equals
 operation, but a sorted map performs all key comparisons using its
 compareTo (or compare) method, so two keys that are
 deemed equal by this method are, from the standpoint of the sorted map,
 equal.  The behavior of a tree map is well-defined even if its
 ordering is inconsistent with equals; it just fails to obey the general
 contract of the Map interface.
 
All general-purpose sorted map implementation classes should provide four "standard" constructors. It is not possible to enforce this recommendation though as required constructors cannot be specified by interfaces. The expected "standard" constructors for all sorted map implementations are:
Comparator, which
   creates an empty sorted map sorted according to the specified comparator.Map, which creates
   a new map with the same key-value mappings as its argument, sorted
   according to the keys' natural ordering.SortedMap, which
   creates a new sorted map with the same key-value mappings and the same
   ordering as the input sorted map.Note: several methods return submaps with restricted key
 ranges. Such ranges are half-open, that is, they include their low
 endpoint but not their high endpoint (where applicable).  If you need a
 closed range (which includes both endpoints), and the key type
 allows for calculation of the successor of a given key, merely request
 the subrange from lowEndpoint to
 successor(highEndpoint).  For example, suppose that m
 is a map whose keys are strings.  The following idiom obtains a view
 containing all of the key-value mappings in m whose keys are
 between low and high, inclusive:
SortedMap<String, V> sub = m.subMap(low, high+"\0");A similar technique can be used to generate an open range (which contains neither endpoint). The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the key-value mappings in
m whose keys
 are between low and high, exclusive:SortedMap<String, V> sub = m.subMap(low+"\0", high);
This interface is a member of the Java Collections Framework.
Map, 
TreeMap, 
SortedSet, 
Comparator, 
Comparable, 
Collection, 
ClassCastException| Modifier and Type | Method and Description | 
|---|---|
| Comparator<? super K> | comparator()Returns the comparator used to order the keys in this map, or
  nullif this map uses the natural ordering of its keys. | 
| Set<Map.Entry<K,V>> | entrySet()Returns a  Setview of the mappings contained in this map. | 
| K | firstKey()Returns the first (lowest) key currently in this map. | 
| SortedMap<K,V> | headMap(K toKey)Returns a view of the portion of this map whose keys are
 strictly less than  toKey. | 
| Set<K> | keySet()Returns a  Setview of the keys contained in this map. | 
| K | lastKey()Returns the last (highest) key currently in this map. | 
| SortedMap<K,V> | subMap(K fromKey,
      K toKey)Returns a view of the portion of this map whose keys range from
  fromKey, inclusive, totoKey, exclusive. | 
| SortedMap<K,V> | tailMap(K fromKey)Returns a view of the portion of this map whose keys are
 greater than or equal to  fromKey. | 
| Collection<V> | values()Returns a  Collectionview of the values contained in this map. | 
clear, compute, computeIfAbsent, computeIfPresent, containsKey, containsValue, equals, forEach, get, getOrDefault, hashCode, isEmpty, merge, put, putAll, putIfAbsent, remove, remove, replace, replace, replaceAll, sizeComparator<? super K> comparator()
null if this map uses the natural ordering of its keys.null if this map uses the natural ordering
         of its keysSortedMap<K,V> subMap(K fromKey, K toKey)
fromKey, inclusive, to toKey, exclusive.  (If
 fromKey and toKey are equal, the returned map
 is empty.)  The returned map is backed by this map, so changes
 in the returned map are reflected in this map, and vice-versa.
 The returned map supports all optional map operations that this
 map supports.
 The returned map will throw an IllegalArgumentException
 on an attempt to insert a key outside its range.
fromKey - low endpoint (inclusive) of the keys in the returned maptoKey - high endpoint (exclusive) of the keys in the returned mapfromKey, inclusive, to toKey, exclusiveClassCastException - if fromKey and toKey
         cannot be compared to one another using this map's comparator
         (or, if the map has no comparator, using natural ordering).
         Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this
         exception if fromKey or toKey
         cannot be compared to keys currently in the map.NullPointerException - if fromKey or toKey
         is null and this map does not permit null keysIllegalArgumentException - if fromKey is greater than
         toKey; or if this map itself has a restricted
         range, and fromKey or toKey lies
         outside the bounds of the rangeSortedMap<K,V> headMap(K toKey)
toKey.  The returned map is backed
 by this map, so changes in the returned map are reflected in
 this map, and vice-versa.  The returned map supports all
 optional map operations that this map supports.
 The returned map will throw an IllegalArgumentException
 on an attempt to insert a key outside its range.
toKey - high endpoint (exclusive) of the keys in the returned maptoKeyClassCastException - if toKey is not compatible
         with this map's comparator (or, if the map has no comparator,
         if toKey does not implement Comparable).
         Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this
         exception if toKey cannot be compared to keys
         currently in the map.NullPointerException - if toKey is null and
         this map does not permit null keysIllegalArgumentException - if this map itself has a
         restricted range, and toKey lies outside the
         bounds of the rangeSortedMap<K,V> tailMap(K fromKey)
fromKey.  The returned map is
 backed by this map, so changes in the returned map are
 reflected in this map, and vice-versa.  The returned map
 supports all optional map operations that this map supports.
 The returned map will throw an IllegalArgumentException
 on an attempt to insert a key outside its range.
fromKey - low endpoint (inclusive) of the keys in the returned mapfromKeyClassCastException - if fromKey is not compatible
         with this map's comparator (or, if the map has no comparator,
         if fromKey does not implement Comparable).
         Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this
         exception if fromKey cannot be compared to keys
         currently in the map.NullPointerException - if fromKey is null and
         this map does not permit null keysIllegalArgumentException - if this map itself has a
         restricted range, and fromKey lies outside the
         bounds of the rangeK firstKey()
NoSuchElementException - if this map is emptyK lastKey()
NoSuchElementException - if this map is emptySet<K> keySet()
Set view of the keys contained in this map.
 The set's iterator returns the keys in ascending order.
 The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are
 reflected in the set, and vice-versa.  If the map is modified
 while an iteration over the set is in progress (except through
 the iterator's own remove operation), the results of
 the iteration are undefined.  The set supports element removal,
 which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the
 Iterator.remove, Set.remove,
 removeAll, retainAll, and clear
 operations.  It does not support the add or addAll
 operations.Collection<V> values()
Collection view of the values contained in this map.
 The collection's iterator returns the values in ascending order
 of the corresponding keys.
 The collection is backed by the map, so changes to the map are
 reflected in the collection, and vice-versa.  If the map is
 modified while an iteration over the collection is in progress
 (except through the iterator's own remove operation),
 the results of the iteration are undefined.  The collection
 supports element removal, which removes the corresponding
 mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove,
 Collection.remove, removeAll,
 retainAll and clear operations.  It does not
 support the add or addAll operations.Set<Map.Entry<K,V>> entrySet()
Set view of the mappings contained in this map.
 The set's iterator returns the entries in ascending key order.
 The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are
 reflected in the set, and vice-versa.  If the map is modified
 while an iteration over the set is in progress (except through
 the iterator's own remove operation, or through the
 setValue operation on a map entry returned by the
 iterator) the results of the iteration are undefined.  The set
 supports element removal, which removes the corresponding
 mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove,
 Set.remove, removeAll, retainAll and
 clear operations.  It does not support the
 add or addAll operations. Submit a bug or feature 
For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
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