## org.apache.lucene.search
Class TopDocsCollector<T extends ScoreDoc>

    java.lang.Object
      org.apache.lucene.search.Collector
          org.apache.lucene.search.TopDocsCollector<T>

Direct Known Subclasses:
  TopFieldCollector, TopScoreDocCollector

    public abstract class TopDocsCollector<T extends ScoreDoc>

extends Collector

A base class for all collectors that return a `TopDocs` output. This collector allows easy extension by providing a single constructor which accepts a `PriorityQueue` as well as protected members for that priority queue and a counter of the number of total hits.
Extending classes can override any of the methods to provide their own implementation, as well as avoid the use of the priority queue entirely by passing null to `TopDocsCollector(PriorityQueue)`. In that case however, you might want to consider overriding all methods, in order to avoid a NullPointerException.

Field Summary
`protected static TopDocs` `EMPTY_TOPDOCS` This is used in case topDocs() is called with illegal parameters, or there simply aren't (enough) results.
`protected PriorityQueue<T>` `pq` The priority queue which holds the top documents.
`protected int` `totalHits` The total number of documents that the collector encountered.

Constructor Summary
`protected` `TopDocsCollector(PriorityQueue<T> pq)`

Method Summary
`int` `getTotalHits()` The total number of documents that matched this query.
`protected TopDocs` `newTopDocs(ScoreDoc[] results, int start)` Returns a `TopDocs` instance containing the given results.
`protected void` `populateResults(ScoreDoc[] results, int howMany)` Populates the results array with the ScoreDoc instances.
`TopDocs` `topDocs()` Returns the top docs that were collected by this collector.
`TopDocs` `topDocs(int start)` Returns the documents in the rage [start ..
`TopDocs` `topDocs(int start, int howMany)` Returns the documents in the rage [start ..
`protected int` `topDocsSize()` The number of valid PQ entries

Methods inherited from class org.apache.lucene.search.Collector
`acceptsDocsOutOfOrder, collect, setNextReader, setScorer`

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

Field Detail

### EMPTY_TOPDOCS

    protected static final TopDocs EMPTY_TOPDOCS

  This is used in case topDocs() is called with illegal parameters, or there simply aren't (enough) results.

### pq

    protected PriorityQueue<T extends ScoreDoc> pq

  The priority queue which holds the top documents. Note that different implementations of PriorityQueue give different meaning to 'top documents'. HitQueue for example aggregates the top scoring documents, while other PQ implementations may hold documents sorted by other criteria.

### totalHits

    protected int totalHits

  The total number of documents that the collector encountered.

Constructor Detail

### TopDocsCollector

    protected TopDocsCollector(PriorityQueue<T> pq)

Method Detail

### populateResults

    protected void populateResults(ScoreDoc[] results,
                                   int howMany)

  Populates the results array with the ScoreDoc instances. This can be overridden in case a different ScoreDoc type should be returned.

### newTopDocs

    protected TopDocs newTopDocs(ScoreDoc[] results,
                                 int start)

  Returns a `TopDocs` instance containing the given results. If `results` is null it means there are no results to return, either because there were 0 calls to collect() or because the arguments to topDocs were invalid.

### getTotalHits

    public int getTotalHits()

  The total number of documents that matched this query.

### topDocsSize

    protected int topDocsSize()

  The number of valid PQ entries

### topDocs

    public TopDocs topDocs()

  Returns the top docs that were collected by this collector.

### topDocs

    public TopDocs topDocs(int start)

  Returns the documents in the rage [start .. pq.size()) that were collected by this collector. Note that if start >= pq.size(), an empty TopDocs is returned.
  This method is convenient to call if the application always asks for the last results, starting from the last 'page'.
  NOTE: you cannot call this method more than once for each search execution. If you need to call it more than once, passing each time a different `start`, you should call `topDocs()` and work with the returned `TopDocs` object, which will contain all the results this search execution collected.

### topDocs

    public TopDocs topDocs(int start,
                           int howMany)

  Returns the documents in the rage [start .. start+howMany) that were collected by this collector. Note that if start >= pq.size(), an empty TopDocs is returned, and if pq.size() - start < howMany, then only the available documents in [start .. pq.size()) are returned.
  This method is useful to call in case pagination of search results is allowed by the search application, as well as it attempts to optimize the memory used by allocating only as much as requested by howMany.
  NOTE: you cannot call this method more than once for each search execution. If you need to call it more than once, passing each time a different range, you should call `topDocs()` and work with the returned `TopDocs` object, which will contain all the results this search execution collected.

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