1/*
2 * Copyright (C) 2007 The Guava Authors
3 *
4 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
5 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
7 *
8 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
9 *
10 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14 * limitations under the License.
15 */
16
17package com.google.common.collect;
18
19import com.google.common.annotations.GwtCompatible;
20
21import java.util.Collection;
22import java.util.List;
23import java.util.Map;
24import java.util.Set;
25
26import javax.annotation.Nullable;
27
28/**
29 * A collection that maps keys to values, similar to {@link Map}, but in which
30 * each key may be associated with <i>multiple</i> values. You can visualize the
31 * contents of a multimap either as a map from keys to <i>nonempty</i>
32 * collections of values:
33 *
34 * <ul>
35 * <li>a → 1, 2
36 * <li>b → 3
37 * </ul>
38 *
39 * ... or as a single "flattened" collection of key-value pairs:
40 *
41 * <ul>
42 * <li>a → 1
43 * <li>a → 2
44 * <li>b → 3
45 * </ul>
46 *
47 * <p><b>Important:</b> although the first interpretation resembles how most
48 * multimaps are <i>implemented</i>, the design of the {@code Multimap} API is
49 * based on the <i>second</i> form. So, using the multimap shown above as an
50 * example, the {@link #size} is {@code 3}, not {@code 2}, and the {@link
51 * #values} collection is {@code [1, 2, 3]}, not {@code [[1, 2], [3]]}. For
52 * those times when the first style is more useful, use the multimap's {@link
53 * #asMap} view (or create a {@code Map<K, Collection<V>>} in the first place).
54 *
55 * <h3>Example</h3>
56 *
57 * <p>The following code: <pre>   {@code
58 *
59 *   ListMultimap<String, String> multimap = ArrayListMultimap.create();
60 *   for (President pres : US_PRESIDENTS_IN_ORDER) {
61 *     multimap.put(pres.firstName(), pres.lastName());
62 *   }
63 *   for (String firstName : multimap.keySet()) {
64 *     List<String> lastNames = multimap.get(firstName);
65 *     out.println(firstName + ": " + lastNames);
66 *   }}</pre>
67 *
68 * ... produces output such as: <pre>   {@code
69 *
70 *   Zachary: [Taylor]
71 *   John: [Adams, Adams, Tyler, Kennedy]  // Remember, Quincy!
72 *   George: [Washington, Bush, Bush]
73 *   Grover: [Cleveland, Cleveland]        // Two, non-consecutive terms, rep'ing NJ!
74 *   ...}</pre>
75 *
76 * <h3>Views</h3>
77 *
78 * <p>Much of the power of the multimap API comes from the <i>view
79 * collections</i> it provides. These always reflect the latest state of the
80 * multimap itself. When they support modification, the changes are
81 * <i>write-through</i> (they automatically update the backing multimap). These
82 * view collections are:
83 *
84 * <ul>
85 * <li>{@link #asMap}, mentioned above</li>
86 * <li>{@link #keys}, {@link #keySet}, {@link #values}, {@link #entries}, which
87 *     are similar to the corresponding view collections of {@link Map}
88 * <li>and, notably, even the collection returned by {@link #get get(key)} is an
89 *     active view of the values corresponding to {@code key}
90 * </ul>
91 *
92 * <p>The collections returned by the {@link #replaceValues replaceValues} and
93 * {@link #removeAll removeAll} methods, which contain values that have just
94 * been removed from the multimap, are naturally <i>not</i> views.
95 *
96 * <h3>Subinterfaces</h3>
97 *
98 * <p>Instead of using the {@code Multimap} interface directly, prefer the
99 * subinterfaces {@link ListMultimap} and {@link SetMultimap}. These take their
100 * names from the fact that the collections they return from {@code get} behave
101 * like (and, of course, implement) {@link List} and {@link Set}, respectively.
102 *
103 * <p>For example, the "presidents" code snippet above used a {@code
104 * ListMultimap}; if it had used a {@code SetMultimap} instead, two presidents
105 * would have vanished, and last names might or might not appear in
106 * chronological order.
107 *
108 * <p><b>Warning:</b> instances of type {@code Multimap} may not implement
109 * {@link Object#equals} in the way you expect.  Multimaps containing the same
110 * key-value pairs, even in the same order, may or may not be equal and may or
111 * may not have the same {@code hashCode}. The recommended subinterfaces
112 * provide much stronger guarantees.
113 *
114 * <h3>Comparison to a map of collections</h3>
115 *
116 * <p>Multimaps are commonly used in places where a {@code Map<K,
117 * Collection<V>>} would otherwise have appeared. The differences include:
118 *
119 * <ul>
120 * <li>There is no need to populate an empty collection before adding an entry
121 *     with {@link #put put}.
122 * <li>{@code get} never returns {@code null}, only an empty collection.
123 * <li>A key is contained in the multimap if and only if it maps to at least
124 *     one value. Any operation that causes a key to have zero associated
125 *     values has the effect of <i>removing</i> that key from the multimap.
126 * <li>The total entry count is available as {@link #size}.
127 * <li>Many complex operations become easier; for example, {@code
128 *     Collections.min(multimap.values())} finds the smallest value across all
129 *     keys.
130 * </ul>
131 *
132 * <h3>Implementations</h3>
133 *
134 * <p>As always, prefer the immutable implementations, {@link
135 * ImmutableListMultimap} and {@link ImmutableSetMultimap}. General-purpose
136 * mutable implementations are listed above under "All Known Implementing
137 * Classes". You can also create a <i>custom</i> multimap, backed by any {@code
138 * Map} and {@link Collection} types, using the {@link Multimaps#newMultimap
139 * Multimaps.newMultimap} family of methods. Finally, another popular way to
140 * obtain a multimap is using {@link Multimaps#index Multimaps.index}. See
141 * the {@link Multimaps} class for these and other static utilities related
142 * to multimaps.
143 *
144 * <h3>Other Notes</h3>
145 *
146 * <p>As with {@code Map}, the behavior of a {@code Multimap} is not specified
147 * if key objects already present in the multimap change in a manner that
148 * affects {@code equals} comparisons.  Use caution if mutable objects are used
149 * as keys in a {@code Multimap}.
150 *
151 * <p>All methods that modify the multimap are optional. The view collections
152 * returned by the multimap may or may not be modifiable. Any modification
153 * method that is not supported will throw {@link
154 * UnsupportedOperationException}.
155 *
156 * <p>See the Guava User Guide article on <a href=
157 * "http://code.google.com/p/guava-libraries/wiki/NewCollectionTypesExplained#Multimap">
158 * {@code Multimap}</a>.
159 *
160 * @author Jared Levy
161 * @since 2.0 (imported from Google Collections Library)
162 */
163@GwtCompatible
164public interface Multimap<K, V> {
165  // Query Operations
166
167  /**
168   * Returns the number of key-value pairs in this multimap.
169   *
170   * <p><b>Note:</b> this method does not return the number of <i>distinct
171   * keys</i> in the multimap, which is given by {@code keySet().size()} or
172   * {@code asMap().size()}. See the opening section of the {@link Multimap}
173   * class documentation for clarification.
174   */
175  int size();
176
177  /**
178   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains no key-value pairs.
179   * Equivalent to {@code size() == 0}, but can in some cases be more efficient.
180   */
181  boolean isEmpty();
182
183  /**
184   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
185   * with the key {@code key}.
186   */
187  boolean containsKey(@Nullable Object key);
188
189  /**
190   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
191   * with the value {@code value}.
192   */
193  boolean containsValue(@Nullable Object value);
194
195  /**
196   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
197   * with the key {@code key} and the value {@code value}.
198   */
199  boolean containsEntry(@Nullable Object key, @Nullable Object value);
200
201  // Modification Operations
202
203  /**
204   * Stores a key-value pair in this multimap.
205   *
206   * <p>Some multimap implementations allow duplicate key-value pairs, in which
207   * case {@code put} always adds a new key-value pair and increases the
208   * multimap size by 1. Other implementations prohibit duplicates, and storing
209   * a key-value pair that's already in the multimap has no effect.
210   *
211   * @return {@code true} if the method increased the size of the multimap, or
212   *     {@code false} if the multimap already contained the key-value pair and
213   *     doesn't allow duplicates
214   */
215  boolean put(@Nullable K key, @Nullable V value);
216
217  /**
218   * Removes a single key-value pair with the key {@code key} and the value
219   * {@code value} from this multimap, if such exists. If multiple key-value
220   * pairs in the multimap fit this description, which one is removed is
221   * unspecified.
222   *
223   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
224   */
225  boolean remove(@Nullable Object key, @Nullable Object value);
226
227  // Bulk Operations
228
229  /**
230   * Stores a key-value pair in this multimap for each of {@code values}, all
231   * using the same key, {@code key}. Equivalent to (but expected to be more
232   * efficient than): <pre>   {@code
233   *
234   *   for (V value : values) {
235   *     put(key, value);
236   *   }}</pre>
237   *
238   * <p>In particular, this is a no-op if {@code values} is empty.
239   *
240   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
241   */
242  boolean putAll(@Nullable K key, Iterable<? extends V> values);
243
244  /**
245   * Stores all key-value pairs of {@code multimap} in this multimap, in the
246   * order returned by {@code multimap.entries()}.
247   *
248   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
249   */
250  boolean putAll(Multimap<? extends K, ? extends V> multimap);
251
252  /**
253   * Stores a collection of values with the same key, replacing any existing
254   * values for that key.
255   *
256   * <p>If {@code values} is empty, this is equivalent to
257   * {@link #removeAll(Object) removeAll(key)}.
258   *
259   * @return the collection of replaced values, or an empty collection if no
260   *     values were previously associated with the key. The collection
261   *     <i>may</i> be modifiable, but updating it will have no effect on the
262   *     multimap.
263   */
264  Collection<V> replaceValues(@Nullable K key, Iterable<? extends V> values);
265
266  /**
267   * Removes all values associated with the key {@code key}.
268   *
269   * <p>Once this method returns, {@code key} will not be mapped to any values,
270   * so it will not appear in {@link #keySet()}, {@link #asMap()}, or any other
271   * views.
272   *
273   * @return the values that were removed (possibly empty). The returned
274   *     collection <i>may</i> be modifiable, but updating it will have no
275   *     effect on the multimap.
276   */
277  Collection<V> removeAll(@Nullable Object key);
278
279  /**
280   * Removes all key-value pairs from the multimap, leaving it {@linkplain
281   * #isEmpty empty}.
282   */
283  void clear();
284
285  // Views
286
287  /**
288   * Returns a view collection of the values associated with {@code key} in this
289   * multimap, if any. Note that when {@code containsKey(key)} is false, this
290   * returns an empty collection, not {@code null}.
291   *
292   * <p>Changes to the returned collection will update the underlying multimap,
293   * and vice versa.
294   */
295  Collection<V> get(@Nullable K key);
296
297  /**
298   * Returns a view collection of all <i>distinct</i> keys contained in this
299   * multimap. Note that the key set contains a key if and only if this multimap
300   * maps that key to at least one value.
301   *
302   * <p>Changes to the returned set will update the underlying multimap, and
303   * vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned set is not possible.
304   */
305  Set<K> keySet();
306
307  /**
308   * Returns a view collection containing the key from each key-value pair in
309   * this multimap, <i>without</i> collapsing duplicates. This collection has
310   * the same size as this multimap, and {@code keys().count(k) ==
311   * get(k).size()} for all {@code k}.
312   *
313   * <p>Changes to the returned multiset will update the underlying multimap,
314   * and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned collection is not
315   * possible.
316   */
317  Multiset<K> keys();
318
319  /**
320   * Returns a view collection containing the <i>value</i> from each key-value
321   * pair contained in this multimap, without collapsing duplicates (so {@code
322   * values().size() == size()}).
323   *
324   * <p>Changes to the returned collection will update the underlying multimap,
325   * and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned collection is not
326   * possible.
327   */
328  Collection<V> values();
329
330  /**
331   * Returns a view collection of all key-value pairs contained in this
332   * multimap, as {@link Map.Entry} instances.
333   *
334   * <p>Changes to the returned collection or the entries it contains will
335   * update the underlying multimap, and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to
336   * the returned collection is not possible.
337   */
338  Collection<Map.Entry<K, V>> entries();
339
340  /**
341   * Returns a view of this multimap as a {@code Map} from each distinct key
342   * to the nonempty collection of that key's associated values. Note that
343   * {@code this.asMap().get(k)} is equivalent to {@code this.get(k)} only when
344   * {@code k} is a key contained in the multimap; otherwise it returns {@code
345   * null} as opposed to an empty collection.
346   *
347   * <p>Changes to the returned map or the collections that serve as its values
348   * will update the underlying multimap, and vice versa. The map does not
349   * support {@code put} or {@code putAll}, nor do its entries support {@link
350   * Map.Entry#setValue setValue}.
351   */
352  Map<K, Collection<V>> asMap();
353
354  // Comparison and hashing
355
356  /**
357   * Compares the specified object with this multimap for equality. Two
358   * multimaps are equal when their map views, as returned by {@link #asMap},
359   * are also equal.
360   *
361   * <p>In general, two multimaps with identical key-value mappings may or may
362   * not be equal, depending on the implementation. For example, two
363   * {@link SetMultimap} instances with the same key-value mappings are equal,
364   * but equality of two {@link ListMultimap} instances depends on the ordering
365   * of the values for each key.
366   *
367   * <p>A non-empty {@link SetMultimap} cannot be equal to a non-empty
368   * {@link ListMultimap}, since their {@link #asMap} views contain unequal
369   * collections as values. However, any two empty multimaps are equal, because
370   * they both have empty {@link #asMap} views.
371   */
372  @Override
373  boolean equals(@Nullable Object obj);
374
375  /**
376   * Returns the hash code for this multimap.
377   *
378   * <p>The hash code of a multimap is defined as the hash code of the map view,
379   * as returned by {@link Multimap#asMap}.
380   *
381   * <p>In general, two multimaps with identical key-value mappings may or may
382   * not have the same hash codes, depending on the implementation. For
383   * example, two {@link SetMultimap} instances with the same key-value
384   * mappings will have the same {@code hashCode}, but the {@code hashCode}
385   * of {@link ListMultimap} instances depends on the ordering of the values
386   * for each key.
387   */
388  @Override
389  int hashCode();
390}
391