001/*
002 * Copyright (c) 2002-2007, Marc Prud'hommeaux. All rights reserved.
003 *
004 * This software is distributable under the BSD license. See the terms of the
005 * BSD license in the documentation provided with this software.
006 */
007package jline;
008
009import java.util.*;
010
011/**
012 *  A Completor is the mechanism by which tab-completion candidates
013 *  will be resolved.
014 *
015 *  @author  <a href="mailto:mwp1@cornell.edu">Marc Prud'hommeaux</a>
016 */
017public interface Completor {
018    /**
019     *  Populates <i>candidates</i> with a list of possible
020     *  completions for the <i>buffer</i>. The <i>candidates</i>
021     *  list will not be sorted before being displayed to the
022     *  user: thus, the complete method should sort the
023     *  {@link List} before returning.
024     *
025     *
026     *  @param  buffer     the buffer
027     *  @param  candidates the {@link List} of candidates to populate
028     *  @return            the index of the <i>buffer</i> for which
029     *                     the completion will be relative
030     */
031    int complete(String buffer, int cursor, List candidates);
032}