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19
20 package org.apache.james.jspf.parser;
21
22 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
23
24 /**
25 * A term definition contains everything needed to match and create
26 * new Terms implementations.
27 */
28 public interface TermDefinition {
29
30 /**
31 * Retrieve the pattern to be used to match a string against this record type.
32 *
33 * @return the pattern for this term
34 */
35 public Pattern getPattern();
36
37 /**
38 * The class implementing this Term type.
39 *
40 * @return the class object.
41 */
42 public Class getTermDef();
43
44 /**
45 * Return the number of groups to be expected from the pattern of this
46 * Term.
47 *
48 * @return the number of groups
49 */
50 public int getMatchSize();
51
52 }