BreakIterator previous() method in Java with Examples

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–