Added in API level 1

Summary: Ctors | Methods | Inherited Methods

Dictionary

public abstract class Dictionary
extends Object

java.lang.Object
↳	java.util.Dictionary<K, V>

Known direct subclasses Hashtable<K, V> Hashtable<K, V> This class implements a hash table, which maps keys to values.

Known indirect subclasses AuthProvider, Properties, Provider AuthProvider Legacy security code; do not use.  Properties The Properties class represents a persistent set of properties.  Provider This class represents a "provider" for the Java Security API, where a provider implements some or all parts of Java Security.

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The Dictionary class is the abstract parent of any class, such as Hashtable, which maps keys to values. Every key and every value is an object. In any one Dictionary object, every key is associated with at most one value. Given a Dictionary and a key, the associated element can be looked up. Any non-null object can be used as a key and as a value.

As a rule, the equals method should be used by implementations of this class to decide if two keys are the same.

NOTE: This class is obsolete. New implementations should implement the Map interface, rather than extending this class.

See also:

• Map
• Object.equals(java.lang.Object)
• Object.hashCode()
• Hashtable

Summary

Public constructors
Dictionary() Sole constructor.

Public methods
abstract Enumeration<V>	elements() Returns an enumeration of the values in this dictionary.
abstract V	get(Object key) Returns the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary.
abstract boolean	isEmpty() Tests if this dictionary maps no keys to value.
abstract Enumeration<K>	keys() Returns an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary.
abstract V	put(K key, V value) Maps the specified key to the specified value in this dictionary.
abstract V	remove(Object key) Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this dictionary.
abstract int	size() Returns the number of entries (distinct keys) in this dictionary.

Inherited methods

From class java.lang.Object Object clone() Creates and returns a copy of this object. boolean equals(Object obj) Indicates whether some other object is "equal to" this one. void finalize() Called by the garbage collector on an object when garbage collection determines that there are no more references to the object. final Class<?> getClass() Returns the runtime class of this Object. int hashCode() Returns a hash code value for the object. final void notify() Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on this object's monitor. final void notifyAll() Wakes up all threads that are waiting on this object's monitor. String toString() Returns a string representation of the object. final void wait(long timeoutMillis, int nanos) Causes the current thread to wait until it is awakened, typically by being notified or interrupted, or until a certain amount of real time has elapsed. final void wait(long timeoutMillis) Causes the current thread to wait until it is awakened, typically by being notified or interrupted, or until a certain amount of real time has elapsed. final void wait() Causes the current thread to wait until it is awakened, typically by being notified or interrupted.

Public constructors

Dictionary

Added in API level 1

public Dictionary ()

Sole constructor. (For invocation by subclass constructors, typically implicit.)

Public methods

elements

Added in API level 1

public abstract Enumeration<V> elements ()

Returns an enumeration of the values in this dictionary. The general contract for the elements method is that an Enumeration is returned that will generate all the elements contained in entries in this dictionary.

Returns
Enumeration<V>	an enumeration of the values in this dictionary.

See also:

• keys()
• Enumeration

get

Added in API level 1

public abstract V get (Object key)

Returns the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary. The general contract for the isEmpty method is that if this dictionary contains an entry for the specified key, the associated value is returned; otherwise, null is returned.

Parameters
key	Object: a key in this dictionary. null if the key is not mapped to any value in this dictionary.

Returns
V	the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary;

Throws
NullPointerException	if the key is null.

See also:

• put(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object)

isEmpty

Added in API level 1

public abstract boolean isEmpty ()

Tests if this dictionary maps no keys to value. The general contract for the isEmpty method is that the result is true if and only if this dictionary contains no entries.

Returns
boolean	true if this dictionary maps no keys to values; false otherwise.

keys

Added in API level 1

public abstract Enumeration<K> keys ()

Returns an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary. The general contract for the keys method is that an Enumeration object is returned that will generate all the keys for which this dictionary contains entries.

Returns
Enumeration<K>	an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary.

See also:

• elements()
• Enumeration

put

Added in API level 1

public abstract V put (K key, 
                V value)

Maps the specified key to the specified value in this dictionary. Neither the key nor the value can be null.

If this dictionary already contains an entry for the specified key, the value already in this dictionary for that key is returned, after modifying the entry to contain the new element.

If this dictionary does not already have an entry for the specified key, an entry is created for the specified key and value, and null is returned.

The value can be retrieved by calling the get method with a key that is equal to the original key.

Parameters
key	K: the hashtable key.
value	V: the value.

Returns
V	the previous value to which the key was mapped in this dictionary, or null if the key did not have a previous mapping.

Throws
NullPointerException	if the key or value is null.

See also:

• Object.equals(java.lang.Object)
• get(java.lang.Object)

remove

Added in API level 1

public abstract V remove (Object key)

Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this dictionary. This method does nothing if the key is not in this dictionary.

Parameters
key	Object: the key that needs to be removed.

Returns
V	the value to which the key had been mapped in this dictionary, or null if the key did not have a mapping.

Throws
NullPointerException	if key is null.

size

Added in API level 1

public abstract int size ()

Returns the number of entries (distinct keys) in this dictionary.

Returns
int	the number of keys in this dictionary.