Adds the specified element to this set if it is not already present (optional operation). More formally, adds the specified element e to this set if the set contains no element e2 such that (e==null ? e2==null : e.equals(e2)). If this set already contains the element, the call leaves the set unchanged and returns false. In combination with the restriction on constructors, this ensures that sets never contain duplicate elements.

The stipulation above does not imply that sets must accept all elements; sets may refuse to add any particular element, including null, and throw an exception, as described in the specification for Collection.add. Individual set implementations should clearly document any restrictions on the elements that they may contain.

e	element to be added to this set
return	true if this set did not already contain the specified element
Throws	UnsupportedOperationException: if the add operation is not supported by this set
Throws	ClassCastException: if the class of the specified element prevents it from being added to this set
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified element is null and this set does not permit null elements
Throws	IllegalArgumentException: if some property of the specified element prevents it from being added to this set

Adds all of the elements in the specified collection to this set if they're not already present (optional operation). If the specified collection is also a set, the addAll operation effectively modifies this set so that its value is the union of the two sets. The behavior of this operation is undefined if the specified collection is modified while the operation is in progress.

c	collection containing elements to be added to this set
return	true if this set changed as a result of the call
Throws	UnsupportedOperationException: if the addAll operation is not supported by this set
Throws	ClassCastException: if the class of an element of the specified collection prevents it from being added to this set
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified collection contains one or more null elements and this set does not permit null elements, or if the specified collection is null
Throws	IllegalArgumentException: if some property of an element of the specified collection prevents it from being added to this set
See also	add(Object)

Removes all of the elements from this set (optional operation). The set will be empty after this call returns.

Throws

UnsupportedOperationException: if the clear method is not supported by this set

Returns true if this set contains the specified element. More formally, returns true if and only if this set contains an element e such that (o==null ? e==null : o.equals(e)).

o	element whose presence in this set is to be tested
return	true if this set contains the specified element
Throws	ClassCastException: if the type of the specified element is incompatible with this set (optional)
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified element is null and this set does not permit null elements (optional)

Returns true if this set contains all of the elements of the specified collection. If the specified collection is also a set, this method returns true if it is a subset of this set.

c	collection to be checked for containment in this set
return	true if this set contains all of the elements of the specified collection
Throws	ClassCastException: if the types of one or more elements in the specified collection are incompatible with this set (optional)
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified collection contains one or more null elements and this set does not permit null elements (optional), or if the specified collection is null
See also	contains(Object)

Compares the specified object with this set for equality. Returns true if the specified object is also a set, the two sets have the same size, and every member of the specified set is contained in this set (or equivalently, every member of this set is contained in the specified set). This definition ensures that the equals method works properly across different implementations of the set interface.

o	object to be compared for equality with this set
return	true if the specified object is equal to this set

Returns the hash code value for this set. The hash code of a set is defined to be the sum of the hash codes of the elements in the set, where the hash code of a null element is defined to be zero. This ensures that s1.equals(s2) implies that s1.hashCode()==s2.hashCode() for any two sets s1 and s2, as required by the general contract of Object#hashCode.

return	the hash code value for this set
See also	equals(Object), equals(Object)

Returns an iterator over the elements in this set. The elements are returned in no particular order (unless this set is an instance of some class that provides a guarantee).

return

an iterator over the elements in this set

Removes the specified element from this set if it is present (optional operation). More formally, removes an element e such that (o==null ? e==null : o.equals(e)), if this set contains such an element. Returns true if this set contained the element (or equivalently, if this set changed as a result of the call). (This set will not contain the element once the call returns.)

o	object to be removed from this set, if present
return	true if this set contained the specified element
Throws	ClassCastException: if the type of the specified element is incompatible with this set (optional)
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified element is null and this set does not permit null elements (optional)
Throws	UnsupportedOperationException: if the remove operation is not supported by this set

Removes from this set all of its elements that are contained in the specified collection (optional operation). If the specified collection is also a set, this operation effectively modifies this set so that its value is the asymmetric set difference of the two sets.

c	collection containing elements to be removed from this set
return	true if this set changed as a result of the call
Throws	UnsupportedOperationException: if the removeAll operation is not supported by this set
Throws	ClassCastException: if the class of an element of this set is incompatible with the specified collection (optional)
Throws	NullPointerException: if this set contains a null element and the specified collection does not permit null elements (optional), or if the specified collection is null
See also	remove(Object), contains(Object)

Retains only the elements in this set that are contained in the specified collection (optional operation). In other words, removes from this set all of its elements that are not contained in the specified collection. If the specified collection is also a set, this operation effectively modifies this set so that its value is the intersection of the two sets.

c	collection containing elements to be retained in this set
return	true if this set changed as a result of the call
Throws	UnsupportedOperationException: if the retainAll operation is not supported by this set
Throws	ClassCastException: if the class of an element of this set is incompatible with the specified collection (optional)
Throws	NullPointerException: if this set contains a null element and the specified collection does not permit null elements (optional), or if the specified collection is null
See also	remove(Object)

Returns the number of elements in this set (its cardinality). If this set contains more than Integer.MAX_VALUE elements, returns Integer.MAX_VALUE.

return

the number of elements in this set (its cardinality)

Returns an array containing all of the elements in this set. If this set makes any guarantees as to what order its elements are returned by its iterator, this method must return the elements in the same order.

The returned array will be "safe" in that no references to it are maintained by this set. (In other words, this method must allocate a new array even if this set is backed by an array). The caller is thus free to modify the returned array.

This method acts as bridge between array-based and collection-based APIs.

return

an array containing all the elements in this set

Returns an array containing all of the elements in this set; the runtime type of the returned array is that of the specified array. If the set fits in the specified array, it is returned therein. Otherwise, a new array is allocated with the runtime type of the specified array and the size of this set.

If this set fits in the specified array with room to spare (i.e., the array has more elements than this set), the element in the array immediately following the end of the set is set to null. (This is useful in determining the length of this set only if the caller knows that this set does not contain any null elements.)

If this set makes any guarantees as to what order its elements are returned by its iterator, this method must return the elements in the same order.

Like the #toArray() method, this method acts as bridge between array-based and collection-based APIs. Further, this method allows precise control over the runtime type of the output array, and may, under certain circumstances, be used to save allocation costs.

Suppose x is a set known to contain only strings. The following code can be used to dump the set into a newly allocated array of String:

     String[] y = x.toArray(new String[0]);

Note that toArray(new Object[0]) is identical in function to toArray().

a	the array into which the elements of this set are to be stored, if it is big enough; otherwise, a new array of the same runtime type is allocated for this purpose.
return	an array containing all the elements in this set
Throws	ArrayStoreException: if the runtime type of the specified array is not a supertype of the runtime type of every element in this set
Throws	NullPointerException: if the specified array is null

Returns true if this set contains no elements.

return

true if this set contains no elements