What is Range.between() in Java?
between() is a Range which is used to obtain an instance of Range with the specified minimum and maximum value. The specified minimum and maximum values are inclusive in nature. The method optionally takes in a custom Comparator for custom comparison logic.
How to import Range
The definition of Range can be found in the Apache Commons Lang package, which we can add to the Maven project by adding the following dependency to the pom.xml file:
<dependency><groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId><artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId><version>3.12.0</version></dependency>
For other versions of the commons-lang package, refer to the Maven Repository.
You can import the Range class as follows:
import org.apache.commons.lang3.Range;
Syntax
public static <T> Range<T> between(final T fromInclusive, final T toInclusive, final Comparator<T> comparator)
Parameters
final T fromInclusive: The first value that defines the edge of the range.final T toInclusive: The second value that defines the edge of the range.final Comparator<T> comparator: The comparator used for the comparison.
Return value
This method returns an instance of the Range class.
Overloaded methods
public static <T extends Comparable<T>> Range<T> between(final T fromInclusive, final T toInclusive)
Code
import org.apache.commons.lang3.Range;import java.util.Comparator;public class Main{static class Person{int age;public Person(int age) {this.age = age;}@Overridepublic String toString() {return "Person{" +"age=" + age +'}';}}public static void main(String[] args) {// Example 1int fromValue = 100;int toValue = 200;Range<Integer> range = Range.between(fromValue, toValue);System.out.println(range);// Example 2Person fromTemp = new Person(4);Person toTemp = new Person(50);Range<Person> tempRange = Range.between(fromTemp, toTemp, Comparator.comparingInt(o -> o.age));System.out.println(tempRange);}}
Explanation
-
In the code above, we create different
Rangeobjects using thebetween()method specifying the inclusive values. -
In the first example, we get the
Rangeobject for the integer values100and200. As a custom comparator is not passed as a parameter, the method assumes natural ordering of the elements to determine where the values lie in the range. -
In the second example, we define a custom class called
Personwhich hasageas its attribute. Then we get theRangeobject for thePersonobjects with ages4and50. Here, we pass a custom comparator as we define custom comparison logic.
Output
The output of the code will be as follows:
[100..200][Person{age=4}..Person{age=50}]
