Added in API level 1

Summary: Fields | Ctors | Methods | Protected Methods | Inherited Methods

Properties

public class Properties
extends Hashtable<Object, Object>

java.lang.Object
↳	java.util.Dictionary<java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object>
	↳	java.util.Hashtable<java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object>
		↳	java.util.Properties

Known direct subclasses Provider Provider This class represents a "provider" for the Java Security API, where a provider implements some or all parts of Java Security.

Known indirect subclasses AuthProvider AuthProvider Legacy security code; do not use.

---

The Properties class represents a persistent set of properties. The Properties can be saved to a stream or loaded from a stream. Each key and its corresponding value in the property list is a string.

A property list can contain another property list as its "defaults"; this second property list is searched if the property key is not found in the original property list.

Because Properties inherits from Hashtable, the put and putAll methods can be applied to a Properties object. Their use is strongly discouraged as they allow the caller to insert entries whose keys or values are not Strings. The setProperty method should be used instead. If the store or save method is called on a "compromised" Properties object that contains a non-String key or value, the call will fail. Similarly, the call to the propertyNames or list method will fail if it is called on a "compromised" Properties object that contains a non-String key.

The iterators returned by the iterator method of this class's "collection views" (that is, entrySet(), keySet(), and values()) may not fail-fast (unlike the Hashtable implementation). These iterators are guaranteed to traverse elements as they existed upon construction exactly once, and may (but are not guaranteed to) reflect any modifications subsequent to construction.

The load(Reader) / store(Writer, String) methods load and store properties from and to a character based stream in a simple line-oriented format specified below. The load(InputStream) / store(OutputStream, String) methods work the same way as the load(Reader)/store(Writer, String) pair, except the input/output stream is encoded in ISO 8859-1 character encoding. Characters that cannot be directly represented in this encoding can be written using Unicode escapes as defined in section {@jls 3.3} of The Java Language Specification; only a single 'u' character is allowed in an escape sequence.

The loadFromXML(java.io.InputStream) and storeToXML(java.io.OutputStream, java.lang.String, java.lang.String) methods load and store properties in a simple XML format. By default the UTF-8 character encoding is used, however a specific encoding may be specified if required. Implementations are required to support UTF-8 and UTF-16 and may support other encodings. An XML properties document has the following DOCTYPE declaration:

 <!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd">
 

Note that the system URI (http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd) is not accessed when exporting or importing properties; it merely serves as a string to uniquely identify the DTD, which is:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <!-- DTD for properties -->

    <!ELEMENT properties ( comment?, entry* ) >

    <!ATTLIST properties version CDATA #FIXED "1.0">

    <!ELEMENT comment (#PCDATA) >

    <!ELEMENT entry (#PCDATA) >

    <!ATTLIST entry key CDATA #REQUIRED>
 

This class is thread-safe: multiple threads can share a single Properties object without the need for external synchronization.

Summary

Fields
protected Properties	defaults A property list that contains default values for any keys not found in this property list.

Public constructors
Properties() Creates an empty property list with no default values.
Properties(int initialCapacity) Creates an empty property list with no default values, and with an initial size accommodating the specified number of elements without the need to dynamically resize.
Properties(Properties defaults) Creates an empty property list with the specified defaults.

Public methods
void	clear() Clears this hashtable so that it contains no keys.
Object	clone() Creates a shallow copy of this hashtable.
Object	compute(Object key, BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction) Attempts to compute a mapping for the specified key and its current mapped value (or null if there is no current mapping). This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.
Object	computeIfAbsent(Object key, Function<? super Object, ?> mappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null), attempts to compute its value using the given mapping function and enters it into this map unless null. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the mapping function modified this map during computation.
Object	computeIfPresent(Object key, BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction) If the value for the specified key is present and non-null, attempts to compute a new mapping given the key and its current mapped value. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.
boolean	contains(Object value) Tests if some key maps into the specified value in this hashtable.
boolean	containsKey(Object key) Tests if the specified object is a key in this hashtable.
boolean	containsValue(Object value) Returns true if this hashtable maps one or more keys to this value.
Enumeration<Object>	elements() Returns an enumeration of the values in this hashtable.
Set<Entry<Object, Object>>	entrySet() Returns a Set view of the mappings contained in this map.
boolean	equals(Object o) Compares the specified Object with this Map for equality, as per the definition in the Map interface.
void	forEach(BiConsumer<? super Object, ? super Object> action) Performs the given action for each entry in this map until all entries have been processed or the action throws an exception.
Object	get(Object key) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or null if this map contains no mapping for the key.
Object	getOrDefault(Object key, Object defaultValue) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or defaultValue if this map contains no mapping for the key.
String	getProperty(String key, String defaultValue) Searches for the property with the specified key in this property list.
String	getProperty(String key) Searches for the property with the specified key in this property list.
int	hashCode() Returns the hash code value for this Map as per the definition in the Map interface.
boolean	isEmpty() Tests if this hashtable maps no keys to values.
Set<Object>	keySet() Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map.
Enumeration<Object>	keys() Returns an enumeration of the keys in this hashtable.
void	list(PrintWriter out) Prints this property list out to the specified output stream.
void	list(PrintStream out) Prints this property list out to the specified output stream.
void	load(Reader reader) Reads a property list (key and element pairs) from the input character stream in a simple line-oriented format.
void	load(InputStream inStream) Reads a property list (key and element pairs) from the input byte stream.
void	loadFromXML(InputStream in) Loads all of the properties represented by the XML document on the specified input stream into this properties table.
Object	merge(Object key, Object value, BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value or is associated with null, associates it with the given non-null value. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.
Enumeration<?>	propertyNames() Returns an enumeration of all the keys in this property list, including distinct keys in the default property list if a key of the same name has not already been found from the main properties list.
Object	put(Object key, Object value) Maps the specified key to the specified value in this hashtable.
void	putAll(Map<?, ?> t) Copies all of the mappings from the specified map to this hashtable.
Object	putIfAbsent(Object key, Object value) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null) associates it with the given value and returns null, else returns the current value.
boolean	remove(Object key, Object value) Removes the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to the specified value.
Object	remove(Object key) Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this hashtable.
Object	replace(Object key, Object value) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to some value.
boolean	replace(Object key, Object oldValue, Object newValue) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if currently mapped to the specified value.
void	replaceAll(BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> function) Replaces each entry's value with the result of invoking the given function on that entry until all entries have been processed or the function throws an exception.
void	save(OutputStream out, String comments) This method was deprecated in API level 15. This method does not throw an IOException if an I/O error occurs while saving the property list. The preferred way to save a properties list is via the store(OutputStream out, String comments) method or the storeToXML(OutputStream os, String comment) method.
Object	setProperty(String key, String value) Calls the Hashtable method put.
int	size() Returns the number of keys in this hashtable.
void	store(Writer writer, String comments) Writes this property list (key and element pairs) in this Properties table to the output character stream in a format suitable for using the load(Reader) method.
void	store(OutputStream out, String comments) Writes this property list (key and element pairs) in this Properties table to the output stream in a format suitable for loading into a Properties table using the load(InputStream) method.
void	storeToXML(OutputStream os, String comment) Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table.
void	storeToXML(OutputStream os, String comment, String encoding) Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table, using the specified encoding.
void	storeToXML(OutputStream os, String comment, Charset charset) Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table, using the specified encoding.
Set<String>	stringPropertyNames() Returns an unmodifiable set of keys from this property list where the key and its corresponding value are strings, including distinct keys in the default property list if a key of the same name has not already been found from the main properties list.
String	toString() Returns a string representation of this Hashtable object in the form of a set of entries, enclosed in braces and separated by the ASCII characters " , " (comma and space).
Collection<Object>	values() Returns a Collection view of the values contained in this map.

Protected methods
void	rehash() Increases the capacity of and internally reorganizes this hashtable, in order to accommodate and access its entries more efficiently.

Inherited methods
From class java.util.Hashtable void clear() Clears this hashtable so that it contains no keys. Object clone() Creates a shallow copy of this hashtable. Object compute(Object key, BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) Attempts to compute a mapping for the specified key and its current mapped value (or null if there is no current mapping). This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation. Object computeIfAbsent(Object key, Function<? super K, ? extends V> mappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null), attempts to compute its value using the given mapping function and enters it into this map unless null. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the mapping function modified this map during computation. Object computeIfPresent(Object key, BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) If the value for the specified key is present and non-null, attempts to compute a new mapping given the key and its current mapped value. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation. boolean contains(Object value) Tests if some key maps into the specified value in this hashtable. boolean containsKey(Object key) Tests if the specified object is a key in this hashtable. boolean containsValue(Object value) Returns true if this hashtable maps one or more keys to this value. Enumeration<Object> elements() Returns an enumeration of the values in this hashtable. Set<Entry<Object, Object>> entrySet() Returns a Set view of the mappings contained in this map. boolean equals(Object o) Compares the specified Object with this Map for equality, as per the definition in the Map interface. void forEach(BiConsumer<? super K, ? super V> action) Performs the given action for each entry in this map until all entries have been processed or the action throws an exception. Object get(Object key) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or null if this map contains no mapping for the key. Object getOrDefault(Object key, Object defaultValue) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or defaultValue if this map contains no mapping for the key. int hashCode() Returns the hash code value for this Map as per the definition in the Map interface. boolean isEmpty() Tests if this hashtable maps no keys to values. Set<Object> keySet() Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. Enumeration<Object> keys() Returns an enumeration of the keys in this hashtable. Object merge(Object key, Object value, BiFunction<? super V, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value or is associated with null, associates it with the given non-null value. This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation. Object put(Object key, Object value) Maps the specified key to the specified value in this hashtable. void putAll(Map<? extends K, ? extends V> t) Copies all of the mappings from the specified map to this hashtable. Object putIfAbsent(Object key, Object value) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null) associates it with the given value and returns null, else returns the current value. void rehash() Increases the capacity of and internally reorganizes this hashtable, in order to accommodate and access its entries more efficiently. boolean remove(Object key, Object value) Removes the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to the specified value. Object remove(Object key) Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this hashtable. boolean replace(Object key, Object oldValue, Object newValue) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if currently mapped to the specified value. Object replace(Object key, Object value) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to some value. void replaceAll(BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> function) Replaces each entry's value with the result of invoking the given function on that entry until all entries have been processed or the function throws an exception. int size() Returns the number of keys in this hashtable. String toString() Returns a string representation of this Hashtable object in the form of a set of entries, enclosed in braces and separated by the ASCII characters " , " (comma and space). Collection<Object> values() Returns a Collection view of the values contained in this map.
From class java.util.Dictionary abstract Enumeration<Object> elements() Returns an enumeration of the values in this dictionary. abstract Object 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<Object> keys() Returns an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary. abstract Object put(Object key, Object value) Maps the specified key to the specified value in this dictionary. abstract Object 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.
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.
From interface java.util.Map abstract void clear() Removes all of the mappings from this map (optional operation). default Object compute(Object key, BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) Attempts to compute a mapping for the specified key and its current mapped value (or null if there is no current mapping). default Object computeIfAbsent(Object key, Function<? super K, ? extends V> mappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null), attempts to compute its value using the given mapping function and enters it into this map unless null. default Object computeIfPresent(Object key, BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) If the value for the specified key is present and non-null, attempts to compute a new mapping given the key and its current mapped value. abstract boolean containsKey(Object key) Returns true if this map contains a mapping for the specified key. abstract boolean containsValue(Object value) Returns true if this map maps one or more keys to the specified value. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> copyOf(Map<? extends K, ? extends V> map) Returns an unmodifiable Map containing the entries of the given Map. static <K, V> Entry<Object, Object> entry(Object k, Object v) Returns an unmodifiable Entry containing the given key and value. abstract Set<Entry<Object, Object>> entrySet() Returns a Set view of the mappings contained in this map. abstract boolean equals(Object o) Compares the specified object with this map for equality. default void forEach(BiConsumer<? super K, ? super V> action) Performs the given action for each entry in this map until all entries have been processed or the action throws an exception. abstract Object get(Object key) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or null if this map contains no mapping for the key. default Object getOrDefault(Object key, Object defaultValue) Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or defaultValue if this map contains no mapping for the key. abstract int hashCode() Returns the hash code value for this map. abstract boolean isEmpty() Returns true if this map contains no key-value mappings. abstract Set<Object> keySet() Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. default Object merge(Object key, Object value, BiFunction<? super V, ? super V, ? extends V> remappingFunction) If the specified key is not already associated with a value or is associated with null, associates it with the given non-null value. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5) Returns an unmodifiable map containing five mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4) Returns an unmodifiable map containing four mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1) Returns an unmodifiable map containing a single mapping. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5, Object k6, Object v6, Object k7, Object v7, Object k8, Object v8) Returns an unmodifiable map containing eight mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2) Returns an unmodifiable map containing two mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3) Returns an unmodifiable map containing three mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of() Returns an unmodifiable map containing zero mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5, Object k6, Object v6, Object k7, Object v7, Object k8, Object v8, Object k9, Object v9) Returns an unmodifiable map containing nine mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5, Object k6, Object v6) Returns an unmodifiable map containing six mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5, Object k6, Object v6, Object k7, Object v7) Returns an unmodifiable map containing seven mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> of(Object k1, Object v1, Object k2, Object v2, Object k3, Object v3, Object k4, Object v4, Object k5, Object v5, Object k6, Object v6, Object k7, Object v7, Object k8, Object v8, Object k9, Object v9, Object k10, Object v10) Returns an unmodifiable map containing ten mappings. static <K, V> Map<Object, Object> ofEntries(Entry...<? extends K, ? extends V> entries) Returns an unmodifiable map containing keys and values extracted from the given entries. abstract Object put(Object key, Object value) Associates the specified value with the specified key in this map (optional operation). abstract void putAll(Map<? extends K, ? extends V> m) Copies all of the mappings from the specified map to this map (optional operation). default Object putIfAbsent(Object key, Object value) If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null) associates it with the given value and returns null, else returns the current value. default boolean remove(Object key, Object value) Removes the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to the specified value. abstract Object remove(Object key) Removes the mapping for a key from this map if it is present (optional operation). default boolean replace(Object key, Object oldValue, Object newValue) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if currently mapped to the specified value. default Object replace(Object key, Object value) Replaces the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to some value. default void replaceAll(BiFunction<? super K, ? super V, ? extends V> function) Replaces each entry's value with the result of invoking the given function on that entry until all entries have been processed or the function throws an exception. abstract int size() Returns the number of key-value mappings in this map. abstract Collection<Object> values() Returns a Collection view of the values contained in this map.

Fields

defaults

Added in API level 1

protected Properties defaults

A property list that contains default values for any keys not found in this property list.

Public constructors

Properties

Added in API level 1

public Properties ()

Creates an empty property list with no default values.

Implementation Note:

• The initial capacity of a Properties object created with this constructor is unspecified.

Properties

Added in API level 35

public Properties (int initialCapacity)

Creates an empty property list with no default values, and with an initial size accommodating the specified number of elements without the need to dynamically resize.

Parameters
initialCapacity	int: the Properties will be sized to accommodate this many elements

Throws
IllegalArgumentException	if the initial capacity is less than zero.

Properties

Added in API level 1

public Properties (Properties defaults)

Creates an empty property list with the specified defaults.

Implementation Note:

• The initial capacity of a Properties object created with this constructor is unspecified.

Parameters
defaults	Properties: the defaults.

Public methods

clear

Added in API level 1

public void clear ()

Clears this hashtable so that it contains no keys.

clone

Added in API level 1

public Object clone ()

Creates a shallow copy of this hashtable. All the structure of the hashtable itself is copied, but the keys and values are not cloned. This is a relatively expensive operation.

Returns
Object	a clone of the hashtable

compute

Added in API level 24

public Object compute (Object key, 
                BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction)

Attempts to compute a mapping for the specified key and its current mapped value (or null if there is no current mapping). For example, to either create or append a String msg to a value mapping:

 map.compute(key, (k, v) -> (v == null) ? msg : v.concat(msg))

(Method merge() is often simpler to use for such purposes.)

If the remapping function returns null, the mapping is removed (or remains absent if initially absent). If the remapping function itself throws an (unchecked) exception, the exception is rethrown, and the current mapping is left unchanged.

The remapping function should not modify this map during computation.

This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is to be associated
remappingFunction	BiFunction: the remapping function to compute a value

Returns
Object	the new value associated with the specified key, or null if none

computeIfAbsent

Added in API level 24

public Object computeIfAbsent (Object key, 
                Function<? super Object, ?> mappingFunction)

If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null), attempts to compute its value using the given mapping function and enters it into this map unless null.

If the mapping function returns null, no mapping is recorded. If the mapping function itself throws an (unchecked) exception, the exception is rethrown, and no mapping is recorded. The most common usage is to construct a new object serving as an initial mapped value or memoized result, as in:

 map.computeIfAbsent(key, k -> new Value(f(k)));
 

Or to implement a multi-value map, Map<K,Collection<V>>, supporting multiple values per key:

 map.computeIfAbsent(key, k -> new HashSet<V>()).add(v);
 

The mapping function should not modify this map during computation.

This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the mapping function modified this map during computation.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is to be associated
mappingFunction	Function: the mapping function to compute a value

Returns
Object	the current (existing or computed) value associated with the specified key, or null if the computed value is null

computeIfPresent

Added in API level 24

public Object computeIfPresent (Object key, 
                BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction)

If the value for the specified key is present and non-null, attempts to compute a new mapping given the key and its current mapped value.

If the remapping function returns null, the mapping is removed. If the remapping function itself throws an (unchecked) exception, the exception is rethrown, and the current mapping is left unchanged.

The remapping function should not modify this map during computation.

This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is to be associated
remappingFunction	BiFunction: the remapping function to compute a value

Returns
Object	the new value associated with the specified key, or null if none

contains

Added in API level 1

public boolean contains (Object value)

Tests if some key maps into the specified value in this hashtable. This operation is more expensive than the containsKey method.

Note that this method is identical in functionality to containsValue, (which is part of the Map interface in the collections framework).

Parameters
value	Object: a value to search for

Returns
boolean	true if and only if some key maps to the value argument in this hashtable as determined by the equals method; false otherwise.

containsKey

Added in API level 1

public boolean containsKey (Object key)

Tests if the specified object is a key in this hashtable.

Parameters
key	Object: possible key

Returns
boolean	true if and only if the specified object is a key in this hashtable, as determined by the equals method; false otherwise.

containsValue

Added in API level 1

public boolean containsValue (Object value)

Returns true if this hashtable maps one or more keys to this value.

Note that this method is identical in functionality to contains (which predates the Map interface).

Parameters
value	Object: value whose presence in this hashtable is to be tested

Returns
boolean	true if this map maps one or more keys to the specified value

elements

Added in API level 1

public Enumeration<Object> elements ()

Returns an enumeration of the values in this hashtable. Use the Enumeration methods on the returned object to fetch the elements sequentially. If the hashtable is structurally modified while enumerating over the values then the results of enumerating are undefined.

Returns
Enumeration<Object>	an enumeration of the values in this hashtable.

entrySet

Added in API level 1

public Set<Entry<Object, Object>> entrySet ()

Returns a Set view of the mappings contained in this map. 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.

Returns
Set<Entry<Object, Object>>	a set view of the mappings contained in this map

equals

Added in API level 1

public boolean equals (Object o)

Compares the specified Object with this Map for equality, as per the definition in the Map interface.

Parameters
o	Object: object to be compared for equality with this hashtable

Returns
boolean	true if the specified Object is equal to this Map

forEach

Added in API level 24

public void forEach (BiConsumer<? super Object, ? super Object> action)

Performs the given action for each entry in this map until all entries have been processed or the action throws an exception. Unless otherwise specified by the implementing class, actions are performed in the order of entry set iteration (if an iteration order is specified.) Exceptions thrown by the action are relayed to the caller.

Parameters
action	BiConsumer: The action to be performed for each entry

get

Added in API level 1

public Object get (Object key)

Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or null if this map contains no mapping for the key.

More formally, if this map contains a mapping from a key k to a value v such that (key.equals(k)), then this method returns v; otherwise it returns null. (There can be at most one such mapping.)

Parameters
key	Object: the key whose associated value is to be returned

Returns
Object	the value to which the specified key is mapped, or null if this map contains no mapping for the key

getOrDefault

Added in API level 24

public Object getOrDefault (Object key, 
                Object defaultValue)

Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped, or defaultValue if this map contains no mapping for the key.

Parameters
key	Object: the key whose associated value is to be returned
defaultValue	Object: the default mapping of the key

Returns
Object	the value to which the specified key is mapped, or defaultValue if this map contains no mapping for the key

getProperty

Added in API level 1

public String getProperty (String key, 
                String defaultValue)

Searches for the property with the specified key in this property list. If the key is not found in this property list, the default property list, and its defaults, recursively, are then checked. The method returns the default value argument if the property is not found.

Parameters
key	String: the hashtable key.
defaultValue	String: a default value.

Returns
String	the value in this property list with the specified key value.

See also:

• setProperty(String, String)
• defaults

getProperty

Added in API level 1

public String getProperty (String key)

Searches for the property with the specified key in this property list. If the key is not found in this property list, the default property list, and its defaults, recursively, are then checked. The method returns null if the property is not found.

Parameters
key	String: the property key.

Returns
String	the value in this property list with the specified key value.

See also:

• setProperty(String, String)
• defaults

hashCode

Added in API level 1

public int hashCode ()

Returns the hash code value for this Map as per the definition in the Map interface.

Returns
int	a hash code value for this object.

isEmpty

Added in API level 1

public boolean isEmpty ()

Tests if this hashtable maps no keys to values.

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

keySet

Added in API level 1

public Set<Object> keySet ()

Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. 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.

Returns
Set<Object>	a set view of the keys contained in this map

keys

Added in API level 1

public Enumeration<Object> keys ()

Returns an enumeration of the keys in this hashtable. Use the Enumeration methods on the returned object to fetch the keys sequentially. If the hashtable is structurally modified while enumerating over the keys then the results of enumerating are undefined.

Returns
Enumeration<Object>	an enumeration of the keys in this hashtable.

list

Added in API level 1

public void list (PrintWriter out)

Prints this property list out to the specified output stream. This method is useful for debugging.

Parameters
out	PrintWriter: an output stream.

Throws
ClassCastException	if any key in this property list is not a string.

list

Added in API level 1

public void list (PrintStream out)

Prints this property list out to the specified output stream. This method is useful for debugging.

Parameters
out	PrintStream: an output stream.

Throws
ClassCastException	if any key in this property list is not a string.

load

Added in API level 9

public void load (Reader reader)

Reads a property list (key and element pairs) from the input character stream in a simple line-oriented format.

Properties are processed in terms of lines. There are two kinds of line, natural lines and logical lines. A natural line is defined as a line of characters that is terminated either by a set of line terminator characters (\n or \r or \r\n) or by the end of the stream. A natural line may be either a blank line, a comment line, or hold all or some of a key-element pair. A logical line holds all the data of a key-element pair, which may be spread out across several adjacent natural lines by escaping the line terminator sequence with a backslash character \. Note that a comment line cannot be extended in this manner; every natural line that is a comment must have its own comment indicator, as described below. Lines are read from input until the end of the stream is reached.

A natural line that contains only white space characters is considered blank and is ignored. A comment line has an ASCII '#' or '!' as its first non-white space character; comment lines are also ignored and do not encode key-element information. In addition to line terminators, this format considers the characters space (' ', '\u0020'), tab ('\t', '\u0009'), and form feed ('\f', '\u000C') to be white space.

If a logical line is spread across several natural lines, the backslash escaping the line terminator sequence, the line terminator sequence, and any white space at the start of the following line have no affect on the key or element values. The remainder of the discussion of key and element parsing (when loading) will assume all the characters constituting the key and element appear on a single natural line after line continuation characters have been removed. Note that it is not sufficient to only examine the character preceding a line terminator sequence to decide if the line terminator is escaped; there must be an odd number of contiguous backslashes for the line terminator to be escaped. Since the input is processed from left to right, a non-zero even number of 2n contiguous backslashes before a line terminator (or elsewhere) encodes n backslashes after escape processing.

The key contains all of the characters in the line starting with the first non-white space character and up to, but not including, the first unescaped '=', ':', or white space character other than a line terminator. All of these key termination characters may be included in the key by escaping them with a preceding backslash character; for example,

\:\=

would be the two-character key ":=". Line terminator characters can be included using \r and \n escape sequences. Any white space after the key is skipped; if the first non-white space character after the key is '=' or ':', then it is ignored and any white space characters after it are also skipped. All remaining characters on the line become part of the associated element string; if there are no remaining characters, the element is the empty string "". Once the raw character sequences constituting the key and element are identified, escape processing is performed as described above.

As an example, each of the following three lines specifies the key "Truth" and the associated element value "Beauty":

 Truth = Beauty
  Truth:Beauty
 Truth                    :Beauty
 

As another example, the following three lines specify a single property:

 fruits                           apple, banana, pear, \
                                  cantaloupe, watermelon, \
                                  kiwi, mango
 

The key is "fruits" and the associated element is:

"apple, banana, pear, cantaloupe, watermelon, kiwi, mango"

Note that a space appears before each \ so that a space will appear after each comma in the final result; the \, line terminator, and leading white space on the continuation line are merely discarded and are not replaced by one or more other characters.

As a third example, the line:

cheeses
 

specifies that the key is "cheeses" and the associated element is the empty string "".

Characters in keys and elements can be represented in escape sequences similar to those used for character and string literals (see sections {@jls 3.3} and {@jls 3.10.6} of The Java Language Specification). The differences from the character escape sequences and Unicode escapes used for characters and strings are:

• Octal escapes are not recognized.
• The character sequence \b does not represent a backspace character.
• The method does not treat a backslash character, \, before a non-valid escape character as an error; the backslash is silently dropped. For example, in a Java string the sequence "\z" would cause a compile time error. In contrast, this method silently drops the backslash. Therefore, this method treats the two character sequence "\b" as equivalent to the single character 'b'.
• Escapes are not necessary for single and double quotes; however, by the rule above, single and double quote characters preceded by a backslash still yield single and double quote characters, respectively.
• Only a single 'u' character is allowed in a Unicode escape sequence.

The specified stream remains open after this method returns.

Parameters
reader	Reader: the input character stream.

Throws
IOException	if an error occurred when reading from the input stream.
IllegalArgumentException	if a malformed Unicode escape appears in the input.
NullPointerException	if reader is null.

load

Added in API level 1

public void load (InputStream inStream)

Reads a property list (key and element pairs) from the input byte stream. The input stream is in a simple line-oriented format as specified in load(Reader) and is assumed to use the ISO 8859-1 character encoding; that is each byte is one Latin1 character. Characters not in Latin1, and certain special characters, are represented in keys and elements using Unicode escapes as defined in section {@jls 3.3} of The Java Language Specification.

The specified stream remains open after this method returns.

Parameters
inStream	InputStream: the input stream.

Throws
IOException	if an error occurred when reading from the input stream.
IllegalArgumentException	if the input stream contains a malformed Unicode escape sequence.
NullPointerException	if inStream is null.

loadFromXML

Added in API level 1

public void loadFromXML (InputStream in)

Loads all of the properties represented by the XML document on the specified input stream into this properties table.

The XML document must have the following DOCTYPE declaration:

 <!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd">
 

Furthermore, the document must satisfy the properties DTD described above.

An implementation is required to read XML documents that use the "UTF-8" or "UTF-16" encoding. An implementation may support additional encodings.

The specified stream is closed after this method returns.

Parameters
in	InputStream: the input stream from which to read the XML document.

Throws
IOException	if reading from the specified input stream results in an IOException.
UnsupportedEncodingException	if the document's encoding declaration can be read and it specifies an encoding that is not supported
InvalidPropertiesFormatException	Data on input stream does not constitute a valid XML document with the mandated document type.
NullPointerException	if in is null.

See also:

• storeToXML(OutputStream, String, String)
• Character Encoding in Entities

merge

Added in API level 24

public Object merge (Object key, 
                Object value, 
                BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> remappingFunction)

If the specified key is not already associated with a value or is associated with null, associates it with the given non-null value. Otherwise, replaces the associated value with the results of the given remapping function, or removes if the result is null. This method may be of use when combining multiple mapped values for a key. For example, to either create or append a String msg to a value mapping:

 map.merge(key, msg, String::concat)
 

If the remapping function returns null, the mapping is removed. If the remapping function itself throws an (unchecked) exception, the exception is rethrown, and the current mapping is left unchanged.

The remapping function should not modify this map during computation.

This method will, on a best-effort basis, throw a ConcurrentModificationException if the remapping function modified this map during computation.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the resulting value is to be associated
value	Object: the non-null value to be merged with the existing value associated with the key or, if no existing value or a null value is associated with the key, to be associated with the key
remappingFunction	BiFunction: the remapping function to recompute a value if present

Returns
Object	the new value associated with the specified key, or null if no value is associated with the key

propertyNames

Added in API level 1

public Enumeration<?> propertyNames ()

Returns an enumeration of all the keys in this property list, including distinct keys in the default property list if a key of the same name has not already been found from the main properties list.

Returns
Enumeration<?>	an enumeration of all the keys in this property list, including the keys in the default property list.

Throws
ClassCastException	if any key in this property list is not a string.

See also:

• Enumeration
• defaults
• stringPropertyNames()

put

Added in API level 1

public Object put (Object key, 
                Object value)

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

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

Parameters
key	Object: the hashtable key
value	Object: the value

Returns
Object	the previous value of the specified key in this hashtable, or null if it did not have one

putAll

Added in API level 1

public void putAll (Map<?, ?> t)

Copies all of the mappings from the specified map to this hashtable. These mappings will replace any mappings that this hashtable had for any of the keys currently in the specified map.

Parameters
t	Map: mappings to be stored in this map

putIfAbsent

Added in API level 24

public Object putIfAbsent (Object key, 
                Object value)

If the specified key is not already associated with a value (or is mapped to null) associates it with the given value and returns null, else returns the current value.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is to be associated
value	Object: value to be associated with the specified key

Returns
Object	the previous value associated with the specified key, or null if there was no mapping for the key. (A null return can also indicate that the map previously associated null with the key, if the implementation supports null values.)

remove

Added in API level 24

public boolean remove (Object key, 
                Object value)

Removes the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to the specified value.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is associated
value	Object: value expected to be associated with the specified key

Returns
boolean	true if the value was removed

remove

Added in API level 1

public Object remove (Object key)

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

Parameters
key	Object: the key that needs to be removed

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

replace

Added in API level 24

public Object replace (Object key, 
                Object value)

Replaces the entry for the specified key only if it is currently mapped to some value.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is associated
value	Object: value to be associated with the specified key

Returns
Object	the previous value associated with the specified key, or null if there was no mapping for the key. (A null return can also indicate that the map previously associated null with the key, if the implementation supports null values.)

replace

Added in API level 24

public boolean replace (Object key, 
                Object oldValue, 
                Object newValue)

Replaces the entry for the specified key only if currently mapped to the specified value.

Parameters
key	Object: key with which the specified value is associated
oldValue	Object: value expected to be associated with the specified key
newValue	Object: value to be associated with the specified key

Returns
boolean	true if the value was replaced

replaceAll

Added in API level 24

public void replaceAll (BiFunction<? super Object, ? super Object, ?> function)

Replaces each entry's value with the result of invoking the given function on that entry until all entries have been processed or the function throws an exception. Exceptions thrown by the function are relayed to the caller.

Parameters
function	BiFunction: the function to apply to each entry

save

Added in API level 1
Deprecated in API level 15

public void save (OutputStream out, 
                String comments)

This method was deprecated in API level 15.
This method does not throw an IOException if an I/O error occurs while saving the property list. The preferred way to save a properties list is via the store(OutputStream out, String comments) method or the storeToXML(OutputStream os, String comment) method.

Calls the store(OutputStream out, String comments) method and suppresses IOExceptions that were thrown.

Parameters
out	OutputStream: an output stream.
comments	String: a description of the property list.

Throws
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.

setProperty

Added in API level 1

public Object setProperty (String key, 
                String value)

Calls the Hashtable method put. Provided for parallelism with the getProperty method. Enforces use of strings for property keys and values. The value returned is the result of the Hashtable call to put.

Parameters
key	String: the key to be placed into this property list.
value	String: the value corresponding to key.

Returns
Object	the previous value of the specified key in this property list, or null if it did not have one.

See also:

• getProperty(String)

size

Added in API level 1

public int size ()

Returns the number of keys in this hashtable.

Returns
int	the number of keys in this hashtable.

store

Added in API level 9

public void store (Writer writer, 
                String comments)

Writes this property list (key and element pairs) in this Properties table to the output character stream in a format suitable for using the load(Reader) method.

Properties from the defaults table of this Properties table (if any) are not written out by this method.

If the comments argument is not null, then an ASCII # character, the comments string, and a line separator are first written to the output stream. Thus, the comments can serve as an identifying comment. Any one of a line feed ('\n'), a carriage return ('\r'), or a carriage return followed immediately by a line feed in comments is replaced by a line separator generated by the Writer and if the next character in comments is not character # or character ! then an ASCII # is written out after that line separator.

Next, a comment line is always written, consisting of an ASCII # character, the current date and time (as if produced by the toString method of Date for the current time), and a line separator as generated by the Writer.

Then every entry in this Properties table is written out, one per line. For each entry the key string is written, then an ASCII =, then the associated element string. For the key, all space characters are written with a preceding \ character. For the element, leading space characters, but not embedded or trailing space characters, are written with a preceding \ character. The key and element characters #, !, =, and : are written with a preceding backslash to ensure that they are properly loaded.

After the entries have been written, the output stream is flushed. The output stream remains open after this method returns.

Parameters
writer	Writer: an output character stream writer.
comments	String: a description of the property list.

Throws
IOException	if writing this property list to the specified output stream throws an IOException.
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.
NullPointerException	if writer is null.

store

Added in API level 1

public void store (OutputStream out, 
                String comments)

Writes this property list (key and element pairs) in this Properties table to the output stream in a format suitable for loading into a Properties table using the load(InputStream) method.

Properties from the defaults table of this Properties table (if any) are not written out by this method.

This method outputs the comments, properties keys and values in the same format as specified in store(Writer), with the following differences:

• The stream is written using the ISO 8859-1 character encoding.
• Characters not in Latin-1 in the comments are written as \uxxxx for their appropriate unicode hexadecimal value xxxx.
• Characters less than \u0020 and characters greater than \u007E in property keys or values are written as \uxxxx for the appropriate hexadecimal value xxxx.

After the entries have been written, the output stream is flushed. The output stream remains open after this method returns.

Parameters
out	OutputStream: an output stream.
comments	String: a description of the property list.

Throws
IOException	if writing this property list to the specified output stream throws an IOException.
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.
NullPointerException	if out is null.

storeToXML

Added in API level 1

public void storeToXML (OutputStream os, 
                String comment)

Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table.

An invocation of this method of the form props.storeToXML(os, comment) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation props.storeToXML(os, comment, "UTF-8");.

Parameters
os	OutputStream: the output stream on which to emit the XML document.
comment	String: a description of the property list, or null if no comment is desired.

Throws
IOException	if writing to the specified output stream results in an IOException.
NullPointerException	if os is null.
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.

See also:

• loadFromXML(InputStream)

storeToXML

Added in API level 1

public void storeToXML (OutputStream os, 
                String comment, 
                String encoding)

Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table, using the specified encoding.

The XML document will have the following DOCTYPE declaration:

 <!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd">
 

If the specified comment is null then no comment will be stored in the document.

An implementation is required to support writing of XML documents that use the "UTF-8" or "UTF-16" encoding. An implementation may support additional encodings.

The specified stream remains open after this method returns.

This method behaves the same as storeToXML(java.io.OutputStream, java.lang.String, java.nio.charset.Charset) except that it will look up the charset using the given encoding name.

Parameters
os	OutputStream: the output stream on which to emit the XML document.
comment	String: a description of the property list, or null if no comment is desired.
encoding	String: the name of a supported character encoding

Throws
IOException	if writing to the specified output stream results in an IOException.
UnsupportedEncodingException	if the encoding is not supported by the implementation.
NullPointerException	if os is null, or if encoding is null.
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.

See also:

• loadFromXML(InputStream)
• Character Encoding in Entities

storeToXML

Added in API level 35

public void storeToXML (OutputStream os, 
                String comment, 
                Charset charset)

Emits an XML document representing all of the properties contained in this table, using the specified encoding.

The XML document will have the following DOCTYPE declaration:

 <!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/properties.dtd">
 

If the specified comment is null then no comment will be stored in the document.

An implementation is required to support writing of XML documents that use the "UTF-8" or "UTF-16" encoding. An implementation may support additional encodings.

Unmappable characters for the specified charset will be encoded as numeric character references.

The specified stream remains open after this method returns.

Parameters
os	OutputStream: the output stream on which to emit the XML document.
comment	String: a description of the property list, or null if no comment is desired.
charset	Charset: the charset

Throws
IOException	if writing to the specified output stream results in an IOException.
NullPointerException	if os or charset is null.
ClassCastException	if this Properties object contains any keys or values that are not Strings.

See also:

• loadFromXML(InputStream)
• Character Encoding in Entities

stringPropertyNames

Added in API level 9

public Set<String> stringPropertyNames ()

Returns an unmodifiable set of keys from this property list where the key and its corresponding value are strings, including distinct keys in the default property list if a key of the same name has not already been found from the main properties list. Properties whose key or value is not of type String are omitted.

The returned set is not backed by this Properties object. Changes to this Properties object are not reflected in the returned set.

Returns
Set<String>	an unmodifiable set of keys in this property list where the key and its corresponding value are strings, including the keys in the default property list.

See also:

• defaults

toString

Added in API level 1

public String toString ()

Returns a string representation of this Hashtable object in the form of a set of entries, enclosed in braces and separated by the ASCII characters " , " (comma and space). Each entry is rendered as the key, an equals sign =, and the associated element, where the toString method is used to convert the key and element to strings.

Returns
String	a string representation of this hashtable

values

Added in API level 1

public Collection<Object> values ()

Returns a Collection view of the values contained in this map. 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.

Returns
Collection<Object>	a collection view of the values contained in this map

Protected methods

rehash

Added in API level 1

protected void rehash ()

Increases the capacity of and internally reorganizes this hashtable, in order to accommodate and access its entries more efficiently. This method is called automatically when the number of keys in the hashtable exceeds this hashtable's capacity and load factor.