BreakIterator previous() method in Java with Examples

Last Updated : 27 Nov, 2019

The previous() method of java.text.BreakIterator class is used to get the index of the previous boundary behind the current boundary(boundary retrieved by calling current() method). It provides the offset of the first character of boundary which precedes the current boundary pointed by BreakIterator.

Syntax:

public abstract int previous()

Parameter: This method does not accept any parameter.

Return Value: This method provides the index of the previous boundary following the current boundary.

Below are the examples to illustrate the previous() method:

Example 1:

// Java program to demonstrate previous() method 
  
import java.text.*; 
import java.util.*; 
import java.io.*; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public static void main(String[] argv) 
    { 
        // creating and initializing with zero 
        int current = 0, next = 0; 
  
        // creating and initializing BreakIterator 
        BreakIterator wb 
            = BreakIterator.getWordInstance(); 
  
        // setting text for BreakIterator 
        wb.setText("Code  Geeks"); 
  
        // setting the current position to index 11 
        // By skipping 3 boundaries 
        wb.next(3); 
  
        // getting the current text boundary 
        current = wb.current(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "current position before"
            + " calling previous() : "
            + current); 
  
        // calling previous() method 
        next = wb.previous(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "\ncurrent position after"
            + " calling 1st previous() : "
            + next); 
  
        // calling previous() method 
        next = wb.previous(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "\ncurrent position after"
            + " calling 2nd previous() : "
            + next); 
    } 
} 

Output:

current position before calling previous() : 11

current position after calling 1st previous() : 6

current position after calling 2nd previous() : 4

Example 2:

// Java program to demonstrate 
// previous() method 
  
import java.text.*; 
import java.util.*; 
import java.io.*; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public static void main(String[] argv) 
    { 
        // creating and initializing with zero 
        int current = 0, next = 0; 
  
        // creating and initializing BreakIterator 
        BreakIterator wb 
            = BreakIterator.getWordInstance(); 
  
        // setting text for BreakIterator 
        wb.setText("GeeksForGeeks"); 
  
        // setting the current position to index 11 
        // By skipping 3 boundaries 
        wb.next(3); 
  
        // getting the current text boundary 
        current = wb.current(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "current position before"
            + " calling previous() : "
            + current); 
  
        // calling previous() method 
        next = wb.previous(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "\ncurrent position after"
            + " calling 1st previous() : "
            + next); 
  
        // calling previous() method 
        next = wb.previous(); 
  
        // display the result 
        System.out.println( 
            "\ncurrent position after"
            + " calling 2nd previous() : "
            + next); 
    } 
} 

Output:

current position before calling previous() : 13

current position after calling 1st previous() : 0

current position after calling 2nd previous() : -1

Reference: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/docs/api/java/text/BreakIterator.html#previous–