java.lang

Class Float

public final class Float extends Number implements Comparable<Float>

The Float class wraps a value of primitive type float in an object. An object of type Float contains a single field whose type is float.

In addition, this class provides several methods for converting a float to a String and a String to a float, as well as other constants and methods useful when dealing with a float.

Since: JDK1.0

Version: 1.84, 06/22/03

Author: Lee Boynton Arthur van Hoff

Field Summary
static floatMAX_VALUE
A constant holding the largest positive finite value of type float, (2-2-23)·2127.
static floatMIN_VALUE
A constant holding the smallest positive nonzero value of type float, 2-149.
static floatNaN
A constant holding a Not-a-Number (NaN) value of type float.
static floatNEGATIVE_INFINITY
A constant holding the negative infinity of type float.
static floatPOSITIVE_INFINITY
A constant holding the positive infinity of type float.
static Class<Float>TYPE
The Class instance representing the primitive type float.
Constructor Summary
Float(float value)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the primitive float argument.
Float(double value)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the argument converted to type float.
Float(String s)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the floating-point value of type float represented by the string.
Method Summary
bytebyteValue()
Returns the value of this Float as a byte (by casting to a byte).
static intcompare(float f1, float f2)
Compares the two specified float values.
intcompareTo(Float anotherFloat)
Compares two Float objects numerically.
doubledoubleValue()
Returns the double value of this Float object.
booleanequals(Object obj)
Compares this object against the specified object.
static intfloatToIntBits(float value)
Returns a representation of the specified floating-point value according to the IEEE 754 floating-point "single format" bit layout.
static intfloatToRawIntBits(float value)
Returns a representation of the specified floating-point value according to the IEEE 754 floating-point "single format" bit layout, preserving Not-a-Number (NaN) values.
floatfloatValue()
Returns the float value of this Float object.
inthashCode()
Returns a hash code for this Float object.
static floatintBitsToFloat(int bits)
Returns the float value corresponding to a given bit represention.
intintValue()
Returns the value of this Float as an int (by casting to type int).
static booleanisInfinite(float v)
Returns true if the specified number is infinitely large in magnitude, false otherwise.
booleanisInfinite()
Returns true if this Float value is infinitely large in magnitude, false otherwise.
static booleanisNaN(float v)
Returns true if the specified number is a Not-a-Number (NaN) value, false otherwise.
booleanisNaN()
Returns true if this Float value is a Not-a-Number (NaN), false otherwise.
longlongValue()
Returns value of this Float as a long (by casting to type long).
static floatparseFloat(String s)
Returns a new float initialized to the value represented by the specified String, as performed by the valueOf method of class Float.
shortshortValue()
Returns the value of this Float as a short (by casting to a short).
static StringtoString(float f)
Returns a string representation of the float argument.
StringtoString()
Returns a string representation of this Float object.
static FloatvalueOf(String s)
Returns a Float object holding the float value represented by the argument string s.
static FloatvalueOf(float f)
Returns a Float instance representing the specified float value.

Field Detail

MAX_VALUE

public static final float MAX_VALUE
A constant holding the largest positive finite value of type float, (2-2-23)·2127. It is equal to the value returned by Float.intBitsToFloat(0x7f7fffff).

MIN_VALUE

public static final float MIN_VALUE
A constant holding the smallest positive nonzero value of type float, 2-149. It is equal to the value returned by Float.intBitsToFloat(0x1).

NaN

public static final float NaN
A constant holding a Not-a-Number (NaN) value of type float. It is equivalent to the value returned by Float.intBitsToFloat(0x7fc00000).

NEGATIVE_INFINITY

public static final float NEGATIVE_INFINITY
A constant holding the negative infinity of type float. It is equal to the value returned by Float.intBitsToFloat(0xff800000).

POSITIVE_INFINITY

public static final float POSITIVE_INFINITY
A constant holding the positive infinity of type float. It is equal to the value returned by Float.intBitsToFloat(0x7f800000).

TYPE

public static final Class<Float> TYPE
The Class instance representing the primitive type float.

Since: JDK1.1

Constructor Detail

Float

public Float(float value)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the primitive float argument.

Parameters: value the value to be represented by the Float.

Float

public Float(double value)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the argument converted to type float.

Parameters: value the value to be represented by the Float.

Float

public Float(String s)
Constructs a newly allocated Float object that represents the floating-point value of type float represented by the string. The string is converted to a float value as if by the valueOf method.

Parameters: s a string to be converted to a Float.

Throws: NumberFormatException if the string does not contain a parsable number.

See Also: valueOf

Method Detail

byteValue

public byte byteValue()
Returns the value of this Float as a byte (by casting to a byte).

Returns: the float value represented by this object converted to type byte

compare

public static int compare(float f1, float f2)
Compares the two specified float values. The sign of the integer value returned is the same as that of the integer that would be returned by the call:
    new Float(f1).compareTo(new Float(f2))
 

Parameters: f1 the first float to compare. f2 the second float to compare.

Returns: the value 0 if f1 is numerically equal to f2; a value less than 0 if f1 is numerically less than f2; and a value greater than 0 if f1 is numerically greater than f2.

Since: 1.4

compareTo

public int compareTo(Float anotherFloat)
Compares two Float objects numerically. There are two ways in which comparisons performed by this method differ from those performed by the Java language numerical comparison operators (<, <=, ==, >= >) when applied to primitive float values: This ensures that Float.compareTo(Object) (which forwards its behavior to this method) obeys the general contract for Comparable.compareTo, and that the natural order on Floats is consistent with equals.

Parameters: anotherFloat the Float to be compared.

Returns: the value 0 if anotherFloat is numerically equal to this Float; a value less than 0 if this Float is numerically less than anotherFloat; and a value greater than 0 if this Float is numerically greater than anotherFloat.

Since: 1.2

See Also: compareTo

doubleValue

public double doubleValue()
Returns the double value of this Float object.

Returns: the float value represented by this object is converted to type double and the result of the conversion is returned.

equals

public boolean equals(Object obj)
Compares this object against the specified object. The result is true if and only if the argument is not null and is a Float object that represents a float with the same value as the float represented by this object. For this purpose, two float values are considered to be the same if and only if the method Float returns the identical int value when applied to each.

Note that in most cases, for two instances of class Float, f1 and f2, the value of f1.equals(f2) is true if and only if

   f1.floatValue() == f2.floatValue()
 

also has the value true. However, there are two exceptions:

This definition allows hash tables to operate properly.

Parameters: obj the object to be compared

Returns: true if the objects are the same; false otherwise.

See Also: Float

floatToIntBits

public static int floatToIntBits(float value)
Returns a representation of the specified floating-point value according to the IEEE 754 floating-point "single format" bit layout.

Bit 31 (the bit that is selected by the mask 0x80000000) represents the sign of the floating-point number. Bits 30-23 (the bits that are selected by the mask 0x7f800000) represent the exponent. Bits 22-0 (the bits that are selected by the mask 0x007fffff) represent the significand (sometimes called the mantissa) of the floating-point number.

If the argument is positive infinity, the result is 0x7f800000.

If the argument is negative infinity, the result is 0xff800000.

If the argument is NaN, the result is 0x7fc00000.

In all cases, the result is an integer that, when given to the Float method, will produce a floating-point value the same as the argument to floatToIntBits (except all NaN values are collapsed to a single "canonical" NaN value).

Parameters: value a floating-point number.

Returns: the bits that represent the floating-point number.

floatToRawIntBits

public static int floatToRawIntBits(float value)
Returns a representation of the specified floating-point value according to the IEEE 754 floating-point "single format" bit layout, preserving Not-a-Number (NaN) values.

Bit 31 (the bit that is selected by the mask 0x80000000) represents the sign of the floating-point number. Bits 30-23 (the bits that are selected by the mask 0x7f800000) represent the exponent. Bits 22-0 (the bits that are selected by the mask 0x007fffff) represent the significand (sometimes called the mantissa) of the floating-point number.

If the argument is positive infinity, the result is 0x7f800000.

If the argument is negative infinity, the result is 0xff800000.

If the argument is NaN, the result is the integer representing the actual NaN value. Unlike the floatToIntBits method, intToRawIntBits does not collapse all the bit patterns encoding a NaN to a single "canonical" NaN value.

In all cases, the result is an integer that, when given to the Float method, will produce a floating-point value the same as the argument to floatToRawIntBits.

Parameters: value a floating-point number.

Returns: the bits that represent the floating-point number.

floatValue

public float floatValue()
Returns the float value of this Float object.

Returns: the float value represented by this object

hashCode

public int hashCode()
Returns a hash code for this Float object. The result is the integer bit representation, exactly as produced by the method Float, of the primitive float value represented by this Float object.

Returns: a hash code value for this object.

intBitsToFloat

public static float intBitsToFloat(int bits)
Returns the float value corresponding to a given bit represention. The argument is considered to be a representation of a floating-point value according to the IEEE 754 floating-point "single format" bit layout.

If the argument is 0x7f800000, the result is positive infinity.

If the argument is 0xff800000, the result is negative infinity.

If the argument is any value in the range 0x7f800001 through 0x7fffffff or in the range 0xff800001 through 0xffffffff, the result is a NaN. No IEEE 754 floating-point operation provided by Java can distinguish between two NaN values of the same type with different bit patterns. Distinct values of NaN are only distinguishable by use of the Float.floatToRawIntBits method.

In all other cases, let s, e, and m be three values that can be computed from the argument:

 int s = ((bits >> 31) == 0) ? 1 : -1;
 int e = ((bits >> 23) & 0xff);
 int m = (e == 0) ?
                 (bits & 0x7fffff) << 1 :
                 (bits & 0x7fffff) | 0x800000;
 
Then the floating-point result equals the value of the mathematical expression s·m·2e-150.

Note that this method may not be able to return a float NaN with exactly same bit pattern as the int argument. IEEE 754 distinguishes between two kinds of NaNs, quiet NaNs and signaling NaNs. The differences between the two kinds of NaN are generally not visible in Java. Arithmetic operations on signaling NaNs turn them into quiet NaNs with a different, but often similar, bit pattern. However, on some processors merely copying a signaling NaN also performs that conversion. In particular, copying a signaling NaN to return it to the calling method may perform this conversion. So intBitsToFloat may not be able to return a float with a signaling NaN bit pattern. Consequently, for some int values, floatToRawIntBits(intBitsToFloat(start)) may not equal start. Moreover, which particular bit patterns represent signaling NaNs is platform dependent; although all NaN bit patterns, quiet or signaling, must be in the NaN range identified above.

Parameters: bits an integer.

Returns: the float floating-point value with the same bit pattern.

intValue

public int intValue()
Returns the value of this Float as an int (by casting to type int).

Returns: the float value represented by this object converted to type int

isInfinite

public static boolean isInfinite(float v)
Returns true if the specified number is infinitely large in magnitude, false otherwise.

Parameters: v the value to be tested.

Returns: true if the argument is positive infinity or negative infinity; false otherwise.

isInfinite

public boolean isInfinite()
Returns true if this Float value is infinitely large in magnitude, false otherwise.

Returns: true if the value represented by this object is positive infinity or negative infinity; false otherwise.

isNaN

public static boolean isNaN(float v)
Returns true if the specified number is a Not-a-Number (NaN) value, false otherwise.

Parameters: v the value to be tested.

Returns: true if the argument is NaN; false otherwise.

isNaN

public boolean isNaN()
Returns true if this Float value is a Not-a-Number (NaN), false otherwise.

Returns: true if the value represented by this object is NaN; false otherwise.

longValue

public long longValue()
Returns value of this Float as a long (by casting to type long).

Returns: the float value represented by this object converted to type long

parseFloat

public static float parseFloat(String s)
Returns a new float initialized to the value represented by the specified String, as performed by the valueOf method of class Float.

Parameters: s the string to be parsed.

Returns: the float value represented by the string argument.

Throws: NumberFormatException if the string does not contain a parsable float.

Since: 1.2

See Also: valueOf

shortValue

public short shortValue()
Returns the value of this Float as a short (by casting to a short).

Returns: the float value represented by this object converted to type short

Since: JDK1.1

toString

public static String toString(float f)
Returns a string representation of the float argument. All characters mentioned below are ASCII characters. How many digits must be printed for the fractional part of m or a? There must be at least one digit to represent the fractional part, and beyond that as many, but only as many, more digits as are needed to uniquely distinguish the argument value from adjacent values of type float. That is, suppose that x is the exact mathematical value represented by the decimal representation produced by this method for a finite nonzero argument f. Then f must be the float value nearest to x; or, if two float values are equally close to x, then f must be one of them and the least significant bit of the significand of f must be 0.

To create localized string representations of a floating-point value, use subclasses of java.text.NumberFormat.

Parameters: f the float to be converted.

Returns: a string representation of the argument.

toString

public String toString()
Returns a string representation of this Float object. The primitive float value represented by this object is converted to a String exactly as if by the method toString of one argument.

Returns: a String representation of this object.

See Also: Float

valueOf

public static Float valueOf(String s)
Returns a Float object holding the float value represented by the argument string s.

If s is null, then a NullPointerException is thrown.

Leading and trailing whitespace characters in s are ignored. Whitespace is removed as if by the String method; that is, both ASCII space and control characters are removed. The rest of s should constitute a FloatValue as described by the lexical syntax rules:

FloatValue:
Signopt NaN
Signopt Infinity
Signopt FloatingPointLiteral
SignedInteger
where Sign, FloatingPointLiteral, and SignedInteger are as defined in §3.10.2 of the Java Language Specification. If s does not have the form of a FloatValue, then a NumberFormatException is thrown. Otherwise, s is regarded as representing an exact decimal value in the usual "computerized scientific notation"; this exact decimal value is then conceptually converted to an "infinitely precise" binary value that is then rounded to type float by the usual round-to-nearest rule of IEEE 754 floating-point arithmetic, which includes preserving the sign of a zero value. Finally, a Float object representing this float value is returned.

To interpret localized string representations of a floating-point value, use subclasses of java.text.NumberFormat.

Note that trailing format specifiers, specifiers that determine the type of a floating-point literal (1.0f is a float value; 1.0d is a double value), do not influence the results of this method. In other words, the numerical value of the input string is converted directly to the target floating-point type. In general, the two-step sequence of conversions, string to double followed by double to float, is not equivalent to converting a string directly to float. For example, if first converted to an intermediate double and then to float, the string
"1.00000017881393421514957253748434595763683319091796875001d"
results in the float value 1.0000002f; if the string is converted directly to float, 1.0000001f results.

To avoid calling this method on a invalid string and having a NumberFormatException be thrown, the documentation for Double.valueOf lists a regular expression which can be used to screen the input.

Parameters: s the string to be parsed.

Returns: a Float object holding the value represented by the String argument.

Throws: NumberFormatException if the string does not contain a parsable number.

valueOf

public static Float valueOf(float f)
Returns a Float instance representing the specified float value. If a new Float instance is not required, this method should generally be used in preference to the constructor Float, as this method is likely to to yield significantly better space and time performance by cacheing frequently requested values.

Parameters: f a float value.

Returns: a Float instance representing f.

Since: 1.5