jdk/src/share/classes/java/util/Iterator.java

/*
 * Copyright 1997-2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
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 */

package java.util;

/**
 * An iterator over a collection.  {@code Iterator} takes the place of
 * {@link Enumeration} in the Java Collections Framework.  Iterators
 * differ from enumerations in two ways:
 *
 * <ul>
 *      <li> Iterators allow the caller to remove elements from the
 *           underlying collection during the iteration with well-defined
 *           semantics.
 *      <li> Method names have been improved.
 * </ul>
 *
 * <p>This interface is a member of the
 * <a href="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/collections/index.html">
 * Java Collections Framework</a>.
 *
 * @author  Josh Bloch
 * @see Collection
 * @see ListIterator
 * @see Iterable
 * @since 1.2
 */
public interface Iterator<E> {
    /**
     * Returns {@code true} if the iteration has more elements.
     * (In other words, returns {@code true} if {@link #next} would
     * return an element rather than throwing an exception.)
     *
     * @return {@code true} if the iteration has more elements
     */
    boolean hasNext();

    /**
     * Returns the next element in the iteration.
     *
     * @return the next element in the iteration
     * @throws NoSuchElementException if the iteration has no more elements
     */
    E next();

    /**
     * Removes from the underlying collection the last element returned
     * by this iterator (optional operation).  This method can be called
     * only once per call to {@link #next}.  The behavior of an iterator
     * is unspecified if the underlying collection is modified while the
     * iteration is in progress in any way other than by calling this
     * method.
     *
     * @throws UnsupportedOperationException if the {@code remove}
     *         operation is not supported by this iterator
     *
     * @throws IllegalStateException if the {@code next} method has not
     *         yet been called, or the {@code remove} method has already
     *         been called after the last call to the {@code next}
     *         method
     */
    void remove();
}