ByteBuffer compareTo() method in Java

A buffer can be compared with another buffer using the method compareTo() in the class java.nio.ByteBuffer. This method returns a negative integer if the buffer is less than the given buffer, zero if the buffer is equal to the given buffer and a positive integer if the buffer is greater than the given buffer.

A program that demonstrates this is given as follows −

Example

 Live Demo

import java.nio.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Demo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      int n = 5;
      try {
         ByteBuffer buffer1 = ByteBuffer.allocate(n);
         buffer1.put((byte)1);
         buffer1.put((byte)2);
         buffer1.put((byte)3);
         buffer1.put((byte)4);
         buffer1.put((byte)5);
         buffer1.rewind();
         System.out.println("The first ByteBuffer is: " + Arrays.toString(buffer1.array()));
         ByteBuffer buffer2 = ByteBuffer.allocate(n);
         buffer2.put((byte)1);
         buffer2.put((byte)2);
         buffer2.put((byte)3);
         buffer2.put((byte)4);
         buffer2.put((byte)5);
         buffer2.rewind();
         System.out.println("The second ByteBuffer is: " + Arrays.toString(buffer2.array()));
         int val = buffer1.compareTo(buffer2);
         if (val == 0)
            System.out.println("\nBoth the buffers are lexicographically equal");
         else if (val > 0)
            System.out.println("\nThe first buffer is lexicographically greater than the second buffer");
         else
            System.out.println("\nThe second buffer is lexicographically greater than the first buffer");
      } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
         System.out.println("Error!!! IllegalArgumentException");
      } catch (ReadOnlyBufferException e) {
         System.out.println("Error!!! ReadOnlyBufferException");
      }
   }
}

Output

The first ByteBuffer is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The second ByteBuffer is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Both the buffers are lexicographically equal