/* Collator.java -- Perform locale dependent String comparisons.
Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007,
2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of GNU Classpath.
GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
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02110-1301 USA.
Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and
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As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
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package java.text;
import gnu.java.locale.LocaleHelper;
import java.text.spi.CollatorProvider;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.MissingResourceException;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
import java.util.ServiceLoader;
/**
* This class is the abstract superclass of classes which perform
* locale dependent String comparisons. A caller requests
* an instance of Collator for a particular locale using
* the getInstance() static method in this class. That method
* will return a locale specific subclass of Collator which
* can be used to perform String comparisons for that locale.
* If a subclass of Collator cannot be located for a particular
* locale, a default instance for the current locale will be returned.
*
* In addition to setting the correct locale, there are two additional
* settings that can be adjusted to affect String comparisons:
* strength and decomposition. The strength value determines the level
* of signficance of character differences required for them to sort
* differently. (For example, whether or not capital letters are considered
* different from lower case letters). The decomposition value affects how
* variants of the same character are treated for sorting purposes. (For
* example, whether or not an accent is signficant or not). These settings
* are described in detail in the documentation for the methods and values
* that are related to them.
*
* @author Tom Tromey (tromey@cygnus.com)
* @author Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com)
* @date March 18, 1999
*/
public abstract class Collator implements Comparator