Package org.hamcrest
Interface Matcher<T>
- All Superinterfaces:
SelfDescribing
- All Known Implementing Classes:
AllOf
,AnyOf
,BaseMatcher
,CombinableMatcher
,CustomMatcher
,CustomTypeSafeMatcher
,DescribedAs
,DiagnosingMatcher
,Every
,FeatureMatcher
,Is
,IsAnything
,IsCollectionContaining
,IsEqual
,IsInstanceOf
,IsNot
,IsNull
,IsSame
,StringContains
,StringEndsWith
,StringStartsWith
,SubstringMatcher
,TypeSafeDiagnosingMatcher
,TypeSafeMatcher
public interface Matcher<T> extends SelfDescribing
A matcher over acceptable values. A matcher is able to describe itself to give feedback when it fails. Matcher implementations should NOT directly implement this interface. Instead, extend theBaseMatcher
abstract class, which will ensure that the Matcher API can grow to support new features and remain compatible with all Matcher implementations. For easy access to common Matcher implementations, use the static factory methods inCoreMatchers
. N.B. Well designed matchers should be immutable.- See Also:
CoreMatchers
,BaseMatcher
Method Summary
All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Deprecated Methods Modifier and Type Method Description void
_dont_implement_Matcher___instead_extend_BaseMatcher_()
Deprecated.to makevoid
describeMismatch(Object item, Description mismatchDescription)
Generate a description of why the matcher has not accepted the item.boolean
matches(Object item)
Evaluates the matcher for argument item.Methods inherited from interface org.hamcrest.SelfDescribing
describeTo
Method Detail
matches
boolean matches(Object item)
Evaluates the matcher for argument item. This method matches against Object, instead of the generic type T. This is because the caller of the Matcher does not know at runtime what the type is (because of type erasure with Java generics). It is down to the implementations to check the correct type.- Parameters:
item
- the object against which the matcher is evaluated.- Returns:
true
if item matches, otherwisefalse
.- See Also:
BaseMatcher
describeMismatch
void describeMismatch(Object item, Description mismatchDescription)
Generate a description of why the matcher has not accepted the item. The description will be part of a larger description of why a matching failed, so it should be concise. This method assumes thatmatches(item)
is false, but will not check this.- Parameters:
item
- The item that the Matcher has rejected.mismatchDescription
- The description to be built or appended to.
_dont_implement_Matcher___instead_extend_BaseMatcher_
@Deprecated void _dont_implement_Matcher___instead_extend_BaseMatcher_()
Deprecated.to makeThis method simply acts a friendly reminder not to implement Matcher directly and instead extend BaseMatcher. It's easy to ignore JavaDoc, but a bit harder to ignore compile errors .- See Also:
for reasons why.
,BaseMatcher