Annotation (Java SE 9 & JDK 9 )
Keywords: java.text.Annotation class

Module java.base
Package java.text

## Class Annotation

- java.lang.Object
- - java.text.Annotation

-     public class Annotation
      extends Object

  An Annotation object is used as a wrapper for a text attribute value if the attribute has annotation characteristics. These characteristics are:
  - The text range that the attribute is applied to is critical to the semantics of the range. That means, the attribute cannot be applied to subranges of the text range that it applies to, and, if two adjacent text ranges have the same value for this attribute, the attribute still cannot be applied to the combined range as a whole with this value.
  - The attribute or its value usually do no longer apply if the underlying text is changed.
  An example is grammatical information attached to a sentence: For the previous sentence, you can say that "an example" is the subject, but you cannot say the same about "an", "example", or "exam". When the text is changed, the grammatical information typically becomes invalid. Another example is Japanese reading information (yomi).

  Wrapping the attribute value into an Annotation object guarantees that adjacent text runs don't get merged even if the attribute values are equal, and indicates to text containers that the attribute should be discarded if the underlying text is modified.

  Since:
    1.2
  See Also:
    `AttributedCharacterIterator`

- - ### Constructor Summary

    Constructors
    Constructor | Description
    --- | ---
    `Annotation​(Object value)` | Constructs an annotation record with the given value, which may be null.

  - ### Method Summary

    All Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods
    Modifier and Type | Method | Description
    --- | --- | ---
    `Object` | `getValue​()` | Returns the value of the attribute, which may be null.
    `String` | `toString​()` | Returns the String representation of this Annotation.

    - ### Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

      `clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait`

- - ### Constructor Detail

    - #### Annotation

          public Annotation​(Object value)

      Constructs an annotation record with the given value, which may be null.
      Parameters:
        `value` - the value of the attribute

  - ### Method Detail

    - #### getValue

          public Object getValue​()

      Returns the value of the attribute, which may be null.
      Returns:
        the value of the attribute

    - #### toString

          public String toString​()

      Returns the String representation of this Annotation.
      Overrides:
        `toString` in class `Object`
      Returns:
        the `String` representation of this `Annotation`