Class Equivalence<T>

java.lang.Object
com.google.common.base.Equivalence<T>
@GwtCompatible public abstract class Equivalence<T> extends Object
A strategy for determining whether two instances are considered equivalent. Examples of equivalences are the identity equivalence and equals equivalence.

For Java 8+ users

A future version of this class will implement BiPredicate<T, T>. In the meantime, to use an equivalence (say, named equivalence) as a bi-predicate, use the method reference equivalence::equivalent.

Since:
10.0 (mostly source-compatible since 4.0)

  • Constructor Details

    • Equivalence

      protected Equivalence()
      Constructor for use by subclasses.

  • Method Details

    • equivalent

      public final boolean equivalent(@Nullable T a, @Nullable T b)
      Returns true if the given objects are considered equivalent.

      The equivalent method implements an equivalence relation on object references:

      • It is reflexive: for any reference x, including null, equivalent(x, x) returns true.
      • It is symmetric: for any references x and y, equivalent(x, y) == equivalent(y, x).
      • It is transitive: for any references x, y, and z, if equivalent(x, y) returns true and equivalent(y, z) returns true, then equivalent(x, z) returns true.
      • It is consistent: for any references x and y, multiple invocations of equivalent(x, y) consistently return true or consistently return false (provided that neither x nor y is modified).

    • doEquivalent

      protected abstract boolean doEquivalent(T a, T b)
      Returns true if a and b are considered equivalent.

      Called by equivalent(T, T). a and b are not the same object and are not nulls.

      Since:
      10.0 (previously, subclasses would override equivalent())

    • hash

      public final int hash(@Nullable T t)
      Returns a hash code for t.

      The hash has the following properties:

      • It is consistent: for any reference x, multiple invocations of hash(x} consistently return the same value provided x remains unchanged according to the definition of the equivalence. The hash need not remain consistent from one execution of an application to another execution of the same application.
      • It is distributable across equivalence: for any references x and y, if equivalent(x, y), then hash(x) == hash(y). It is not necessary that the hash be distributable across inequivalence. If equivalence(x, y) is false, hash(x) == hash(y) may still be true.
      • hash(null) is 0.

    • doHash

      protected abstract int doHash(T t)
      Returns a hash code for non-null object t.

      Called by hash(T).

      Since:
      10.0 (previously, subclasses would override hash())

    • onResultOf

      public final <F> Equivalence<F> onResultOf(Function<F, ? extends T> function)
      Returns a new equivalence relation for F which evaluates equivalence by first applying function to the argument, then evaluating using this. That is, for any pair of non-null objects x and y, equivalence.onResultOf(function).equivalent(a, b) is true if and only if equivalence.equivalent(function.apply(a), function.apply(b)) is true.

      For example: 

         Equivalence<Person> SAME_AGE = Equivalence.equals().onResultOf(GET_PERSON_AGE);

      function will never be invoked with a null value.

      Note that function must be consistent according to this equivalence relation. That is, invoking Function.apply(F) multiple times for a given value must return equivalent results. For example, Equivalence.identity().onResultOf(Functions.toStringFunction()) is broken because it's not guaranteed that Object.toString()) always returns the same string instance.

      Since:
      10.0

    • wrap

      public final <S extends T> Equivalence.Wrapper<S> wrap(@Nullable S reference)
      Returns a wrapper of reference that implements Object.equals() such that wrap(a).equals(wrap(b)) if and only if equivalent(a, b).
      Since:
      10.0

    • pairwise

      @GwtCompatible(serializable=true) public final <S extends T> Equivalence<Iterable<S>> pairwise()
      Returns an equivalence over iterables based on the equivalence of their elements. More specifically, two iterables are considered equivalent if they both contain the same number of elements, and each pair of corresponding elements is equivalent according to this. Null iterables are equivalent to one another.

      Note that this method performs a similar function for equivalences as Ordering.lexicographical() does for orderings.

      Since:
      10.0

    • equivalentTo

      public final Predicate<T> equivalentTo(@Nullable T target)
      Returns a predicate that evaluates to true if and only if the input is equivalent to target according to this equivalence relation.
      Since:
      10.0

    • equals

      public static Equivalence<Object> equals()
      Returns an equivalence that delegates to Object.equals(Object) and Object.hashCode(). equivalent(T, T) returns true if both values are null, or if neither value is null and Object.equals(Object) returns true. hash(T) returns 0 if passed a null value.
      Since:
      13.0, 8.0 (in Equivalences with null-friendly behavior), 4.0 (in Equivalences)

    • identity

      public static Equivalence<Object> identity()
      Returns an equivalence that uses == to compare values and System.identityHashCode(Object) to compute the hash code. equivalent(T, T) returns true if a == b, including in the case that a and b are both null.
      Since:
      13.0, 4.0 (in Equivalences)