Filter

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbsoluteFalseFilter, AbsoluteTrueFilter, AbstractFilter, AndFilter, BinaryLogicalFilter, CompareFilter, EqualsFilter, GreaterThanOrEqualsFilter, HardcodedFilter, LessThanOrEqualsFilter, LikeFilter, NotFilter, NotPresentFilter, OrFilter, PresentFilter, WhitespaceWildcardsFilter
```
public interface Filter
```
Common interface for LDAP filters.

See Also:

RFC 1960: A String Representation of LDAP Search Filters

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method	Description
`java.lang.String`	`encode()`	Encodes the filter to a String.
`java.lang.StringBuffer`	`encode(java.lang.StringBuffer buf)`	Encodes the filter to a StringBuffer.
`boolean`	`equals(java.lang.Object o)`	All filters must implement equals.
`int`	`hashCode()`	All filters must implement hashCode.

- Method Detail
  - encode
```
java.lang.String encode()
```
    Encodes the filter to a String.
    
    Returns:
    
    The encoded filter in the standard String format
  - encode
```
java.lang.StringBuffer encode(java.lang.StringBuffer buf)
```
    Encodes the filter to a StringBuffer.
    
    Parameters:
    
    buf - The StringBuffer to encode the filter to
    
    Returns:
    
    The same StringBuffer as was given
  - equals
```
boolean equals(java.lang.Object o)
```
    All filters must implement equals.
    
    Overrides:
    
    equals in class java.lang.Object
    
    Parameters:
    
    o -
    
    Returns:
    
    true if the objects are equal.
  - hashCode
```
int hashCode()
```
    All filters must implement hashCode.
    
    Overrides:
    
    hashCode in class java.lang.Object
    
    Returns:
    
    the hash code according to the contract in Object.hashCode()