Package org.jline.reader

Class Candidate

java.lang.Object

org.jline.reader.Candidate

All Implemented Interfaces:

Comparable<Candidate>

public class Candidate
extends Object
implements Comparable<Candidate>

Represents a completion candidate for tab completion.

A Candidate encapsulates all the information needed to display and apply a completion suggestion. This includes the actual text to be inserted, how it should be displayed to the user, grouping information, descriptions, and other metadata that controls how the candidate behaves when selected.

Candidates are created by Completer implementations and passed to the LineReader, which then filters, sorts, and displays them to the user when tab completion is requested.

Each candidate has several properties:

• value - The actual text to be inserted when the candidate is selected
• display - How the candidate should be displayed to the user (may include ANSI styling)
• group - Optional grouping category for organizing related candidates
• description - Optional help text explaining the candidate
• suffix - Optional text to append when the candidate is selected
• complete - Whether the candidate is a complete word or may be further expanded

See Also:

• Completer
• LineReader.Option.AUTO_GROUP
• LineReader.Option.GROUP

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor	Description
Candidate(String value)	Simple constructor with only a single String as an argument.
Candidate(String value, String displ, String group, String descr, String suffix, String key, boolean complete)	Constructs a new Candidate.
Candidate(String value, String displ, String group, String descr, String suffix, String key, boolean complete, int sort)	Constructs a new Candidate.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
int	compareTo(Candidate o)
boolean	complete()	Boolean indicating whether this candidate is complete or if the completer may further expand the candidate value after this candidate has been selected.
String	descr()	Description of this candidate, usually a small help message to understand the meaning of this candidate.
String	displ()	The string that will be displayed to the user.
boolean	equals(Object o)
String	group()	The group name for this candidate.
int	hashCode()
String	key()	Candidates which have the same key will be merged together.
int	sort()	Integer used to override default sort logic.
String	suffix()	The suffix is added when this candidate is displayed.
String	toString()
String	value()	The value that will be used for the actual completion.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Details

Candidate

public Candidate(String value)

Simple constructor with only a single String as an argument.

Parameters:

value - the candidate

Candidate

public Candidate(String value,
 String displ,
 String group,
 String descr,
 String suffix,
 String key,
 boolean complete,
 int sort)

Constructs a new Candidate.

Parameters:

value - the value

displ - the display string

group - the group

descr - the description

suffix - the suffix

key - the key

complete - the complete flag

sort - the sort flag

Candidate

public Candidate(String value,
 String displ,
 String group,
 String descr,
 String suffix,
 String key,
 boolean complete)

Constructs a new Candidate.

Parameters:

value - the value

displ - the display string

group - the group

descr - the description

suffix - the suffix

key - the key

complete - the complete flag

Method Details

value

public String value()

The value that will be used for the actual completion. This string should not contain ANSI sequences.

Returns:

the value

displ

public String displ()

The string that will be displayed to the user. This string may contain ANSI sequences.

Returns:

the display string

group

public String group()

The group name for this candidate. Candidates can be grouped together and this string is used as a key for the group and displayed to the user.

Returns:

the group

See Also:

• LineReader.Option.GROUP
• LineReader.Option.AUTO_GROUP

descr

public String descr()

Description of this candidate, usually a small help message to understand the meaning of this candidate. This string may contain ANSI sequences.

Returns:

the description

suffix

public String suffix()

The suffix is added when this candidate is displayed. However, if the next character entered does not match, the suffix will be automatically removed. This string should not contain ANSI sequences.

Returns:

the suffix

See Also:

• LineReader.Option.AUTO_REMOVE_SLASH
• LineReader.REMOVE_SUFFIX_CHARS

key

public String key()

Candidates which have the same key will be merged together. For example, if a command has multiple aliases, they can be merged if they are using the same key.

Returns:

the key

complete

public boolean complete()

Boolean indicating whether this candidate is complete or if the completer may further expand the candidate value after this candidate has been selected. This can be the case when completing folders for example. If the candidate is complete and is selected, a space separator will be added.

Returns:

the completion flag

sort

public int sort()

Integer used to override default sort logic.

Returns:

the sort int

compareTo

public int compareTo(Candidate o)

Specified by:

compareTo in interface Comparable<Candidate>

equals

public boolean equals(Object o)

Overrides:

equals in class Object

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class Object