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   * Copyright (c) 2007, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
   *
   * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
   * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
   * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
   * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
   * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
   *
   * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
   * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
   * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
   * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
   * accompanied this code).
   *
   * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
   * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
   * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
   *
   * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
   * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
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   */
  
  package java.nio.file.attribute;
  
  /**
   * Basic attributes associated with a file in a file system.
   *
   * <p> Basic file attributes are attributes that are common to many file systems
   * and consist of mandatory and optional file attributes as defined by this
   * interface.
   *
   * <p> <b>Usage Example:</b>
   * <pre>
   *    Path file = ...
   *    BasicFileAttributes attrs = Files.readAttributes(file, BasicFileAttributes.class);
   * </pre>
   *
   * @since 1.7
   *
   * @see BasicFileAttributeView
   */
  
  public interface BasicFileAttributes {
  
      /**
       * Returns the time of last modification.
       *
       * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
       * to indicate the time of last modification then this method returns an
       * implementation specific default value, typically a {@code FileTime}
       * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
       *
       * @return  a {@code FileTime} representing the time the file was last
       *          modified
       */
      FileTime lastModifiedTime();
  
      /**
       * Returns the time of last access.
       *
       * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
       * to indicate the time of last access then this method returns
       * an implementation specific default value, typically the {@link
       * #lastModifiedTime() last-modified-time} or a {@code FileTime}
       * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
       *
       * @return  a {@code FileTime} representing the time of last access
       */
      FileTime lastAccessTime();
  
      /**
       * Returns the creation time. The creation time is the time that the file
       * was created.
       *
       * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
       * to indicate the time when the file was created then this method returns
       * an implementation specific default value, typically the {@link
       * #lastModifiedTime() last-modified-time} or a {@code FileTime}
       * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
       *
       * @return   a {@code FileTime} representing the time the file was created
       */
      FileTime creationTime();
  
      /**
       * Tells whether the file is a regular file with opaque content.
       *
       * @return {@code true} if the file is a regular file with opaque content
       */
      boolean isRegularFile();
  
      /**
       * Tells whether the file is a directory.
       *
       * @return {@code true} if the file is a directory
       */
      boolean isDirectory();
  
      /**
       * Tells whether the file is a symbolic link.
       *
       * @return {@code true} if the file is a symbolic link
       */
      boolean isSymbolicLink();
  
      /**
       * Tells whether the file is something other than a regular file, directory,
       * or symbolic link.
       *
       * @return {@code true} if the file something other than a regular file,
       *         directory or symbolic link
       */
      boolean isOther();
  
      /**
       * Returns the size of the file (in bytes). The size may differ from the
       * actual size on the file system due to compression, support for sparse
       * files, or other reasons. The size of files that are not {@link
       * #isRegularFile regular} files is implementation specific and
       * therefore unspecified.
       *
       * @return  the file size, in bytes
       */
      long size();
  
      /**
       * Returns an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or {@code
       * null} if a file key is not available. On some platforms or file systems
       * it is possible to use an identifier, or a combination of identifiers to
       * uniquely identify a file. Such identifiers are important for operations
       * such as file tree traversal in file systems that support <a
       * href="../package-summary.html#links">symbolic links</a> or file systems
       * that allow a file to be an entry in more than one directory. On UNIX file
       * systems, for example, the <em>device ID</em> and <em>inode</em> are
       * commonly used for such purposes.
       *
       * <p> The file key returned by this method can only be guaranteed to be
       * unique if the file system and files remain static. Whether a file system
       * re-uses identifiers after a file is deleted is implementation dependent and
       * therefore unspecified.
       *
       * <p> File keys returned by this method can be compared for equality and are
       * suitable for use in collections. If the file system and files remain static,
       * and two files are the {@link java.nio.file.Files#isSameFile same} with
       * non-{@code null} file keys, then their file keys are equal.
       *
       * @return an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or {@code null}
       *
       * @see java.nio.file.Files#walkFileTree
       */
      Object fileKey();
  }
  