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1   /*
2    * Copyright 2007 Kasper B. Graversen
3    * 
4    * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
5    * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6    * You may obtain a copy of the License at
7    * 
8    *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
9    * 
10   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13   * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14   * limitations under the License.
15   */
16  package org.supercsv.encoder;
17  
18  import org.supercsv.prefs.CsvPreference;
19  import org.supercsv.util.CsvContext;
20  
21  /**
22   * Defines the interface for all CSV encoders.
23   * 
24   * @author James Bassett
25   * @since 2.1.0
26   */
27  public interface CsvEncoder {
28  	
29  	/**
30  	 * Encodes a String to be written to a CSV file. The encoder should honour all CSV preferences including updating
31  	 * the current lineNumber (in the CSV context - it will be updated in the calling CsvWriter after encoding has
32  	 * completed) as line terminators are encountered in the String to be escaped (converting all 3 variations of line
33  	 * terminators to the end of line symbols specified in the preferences). The CsvContext can also be used to encode
34  	 * based on the current context (e.g. you may want to always put quotes around a particular column).
35  	 * 
36  	 * @param input
37  	 *            the String to be encoded
38  	 * @param context
39  	 *            the context
40  	 * @param preference
41  	 *            the CSV preferences
42  	 * @return the encoded CSV
43  	 */
44  	String encode(String input, CsvContext context, CsvPreference preference);
45  	
46  }