16.26. Path Interface

@Immutable
public interface Path extends Comparable<Path>, Iterable<Path.Segment>, Serializable, Readable {

    /**
     * Return the number of segments in this path.
     * @return the number of path segments
     */
    public int size();

    /**
     * Return whether this path represents the root path.
     * @return true if this path is the root path, or false otherwise
     */
    public boolean isRoot();

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public Iterator<Path.Segment> iterator();

    /**
     * Obtain a copy of the segments in this path. None of the segments are encoded.
     * @return the array of segments as a copy
     */
    public Path.Segment[] getSegmentsArray();

    /**
     * Get an unmodifiable list of the path segments.
     * @return the unmodifiable list of path segments; never null
     */
    public List<Path.Segment> getSegmentsList();
    /**
     * Get the last segment in this path.
     * @return the last segment, or null if the path is empty
     */
    public Path.Segment getLastSegment();

    /**
     * Get the segment at the supplied index.
     * @param index the index
     * @return the segment
     * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if the index is out of bounds
     */
    public Path.Segment getSegment( int index );

    /**
     * Return an iterator that walks the paths from the root path down to this path. This method 
     * always returns at least one path (the root returns an iterator containing itself).
     * @return the path iterator; never null
     */
    public Iterator<Path> pathsFromRoot();

    /**
     * Return a new path consisting of the segments starting at beginIndex index (inclusive). 
     * This is equivalent to calling path.subpath(beginIndex,path.size()-1).
     * @param beginIndex the beginning index, inclusive.
     * @return the specified subpath
     * @exception IndexOutOfBoundsException if the beginIndex is negative or larger 
     *            than the length of this Path object
     */
    public Path subpath( int beginIndex );

    /**
     * Return a new path consisting of the segments between the beginIndex index (inclusive)
     * and the endIndex index (exclusive).
     * @param beginIndex the beginning index, inclusive.
     * @param endIndex the ending index, exclusive.
     * @return the specified subpath
     * @exception IndexOutOfBoundsException if the beginIndex is negative, or 
     *            endIndex is larger than the length of this Path 
     *            object, or beginIndex is larger than endIndex.
     */
    public Path subpath( int beginIndex, int endIndex );

    ...
}