OpenJDK 1.23 · java.nio.charset · APIdia, the JavaDoc alternative

Defines charsets, decoders, and encoders, for translating between bytes and Unicode characters.

Summary of charsets, decoders, and encoders in this package
Class name	Description
`java.nio.charset.Charset`	A named mapping between characters and bytes
`java.nio.charset.CharsetDecoder`	Decodes bytes into characters
`java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder`	Encodes characters into bytes
`java.nio.charset.CoderResult`	Describes coder results
`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 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 java.lang.String class, together with the existing java.io.InputStreamReader and 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 java.io.InputStreamReader and 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 java.nio.charset.spi.CharsetProvider class in the 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 NullPointerException to be thrown.

Class Summary

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
public class	CharacterCodingException Checked exception thrown when a character encoding or decoding error occurs.
public abstract class	Charset A named mapping between sequences of sixteen-bit Unicode code units and sequences of bytes.
public abstract class	CharsetDecoder An engine that can transform a sequence of bytes in a specific charset into a sequence of sixteen-bit Unicode characters.
public abstract class	CharsetEncoder An engine that can transform a sequence of sixteen-bit Unicode characters into a sequence of bytes in a specific charset.
public class	CoderMalfunctionError Error thrown when the `decodeLoop` method of a `CharsetDecoder`, or the `encodeLoop` method of a `CharsetEncoder`, throws an unexpected exception.
public class	CoderResult A description of the result state of a coder.
public class	CodingErrorAction A typesafe enumeration for coding-error actions.
public class	IllegalCharsetNameException Unchecked exception thrown when a string that is not a legal charset name is used as such.
public class	MalformedInputException Checked exception thrown when an input byte sequence is not legal for given charset, or an input character sequence is not a legal sixteen-bit Unicode sequence.
public class	StandardCharsets Constant definitions for the standard `charsets`.
public class	UnmappableCharacterException Checked exception thrown when an input character (or byte) sequence is valid but cannot be mapped to an output byte (or character) sequence.
public class	UnsupportedCharsetException Unchecked exception thrown when no support is available for a requested charset.

Package java.nio.charset

Class Summary