+ ++
+ Class name
Description
+ {@link java.nio.charset.Charset} +A named mapping between characters
and bytes+ {@link java.nio.charset.CharsetDecoder} +Decodes bytes into characters + {@link java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder} +Encodes characters into bytes + {@link java.nio.charset.CoderResult} +Describes coder results + + {@link java.nio.charset.CodingErrorAction} +Describes actions to take when
coding errors are detected
A charset is named mapping between sequences of sixteen-bit Unicode +characters and sequences of bytes, in the sense defined in RFC 2278. A +decoder is an engine which transforms bytes in a specific charset into +characters, and an encoder is an engine which transforms characters into +bytes. Encoders and decoders operate on byte and character buffers. They are +collectively referred to as coders. + +
The {@link java.nio.charset.Charset} class defines methods for creating +coders for a given charset and for retrieving the various names associated with +a charset. It also defines static methods for testing whether a particular +charset is supported, for locating charset instances by name, and for +constructing a map that contains every charset for which support is available +in the current Java virtual machine. + +
Most users will not use these classes directly; instead they will use the +existing charset-related constructors and methods in the {@link +java.lang.String} class, together with the existing {@link +java.io.InputStreamReader} and {@link java.io.OutputStreamWriter} classes, all +of whose implementations have been reworked to make use of the charset +facilities defined in this package. A small number of changes have been made +to the {@link java.io.InputStreamReader} and {@link java.io.OutputStreamWriter} +classes in order to allow explicit charset objects to be specified in the +construction of instances of those classes. + +
Support for new charsets can be made available via the interface defined in +the {@link java.nio.charset.spi.CharsetProvider} class in the {@link +java.nio.charset.spi} package. + +
Unless otherwise noted, passing a null argument to a constructor +or method in any class or interface in this package will cause a {@link +java.lang.NullPointerException NullPointerException} to be thrown. + + +@since 1.4 +@author Mark Reinhold +@author JSR-51 Expert Group + + +