Uses of Class opennlp.tools.util.Span (Apache OpenNLP Tools 1.9.5 API)
Date: 2026-06-18

## Uses of Class
opennlp.tools.util.Span

- Packages that use Span
  Package | Description
  --- | ---
  opennlp.tools.chunker | Package related to finding non-recursive syntactic annotation such as noun phrase chunks.
  opennlp.tools.cmdline.chunker |
  opennlp.tools.cmdline.namefind |
  opennlp.tools.entitylinker |
  opennlp.tools.formats.brat |
  opennlp.tools.formats.irishsentencebank |
  opennlp.tools.formats.nkjp |
  opennlp.tools.namefind | Package related to finding proper names and numeric amounts.
  opennlp.tools.parser | Package containing common code for performing full syntactic parsing.
  opennlp.tools.sentdetect | Package related to identifying sentece boundries.
  opennlp.tools.tokenize | Contains classes related to finding token or words in a string.
  opennlp.tools.util | Package containing utility data structures and algorithms used by multiple other packages.

- - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.chunker

    Methods in opennlp.tools.chunker that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | ChunkerME.`chunkAsSpans(String[] toks, String[] tags)`
    `Span[]` | Chunker.`chunkAsSpans(String[] toks, String[] tags)` Generates tagged chunk spans for the given sequence returning the result in a span array.
    `Span[]` | ChunkSample.`getPhrasesAsSpanList()` Gets the phrases as an array of spans
    `static Span[]` | ChunkSample.`phrasesAsSpanList(String[] aSentence, String[] aTags, String[] aPreds)` Static method to create arrays of spans of phrases

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.cmdline.chunker

    Methods in opennlp.tools.cmdline.chunker that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `protected Span[]` | ChunkerDetailedFMeasureListener.`asSpanArray(ChunkSample sample)`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.cmdline.namefind

    Methods in opennlp.tools.cmdline.namefind that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `protected Span[]` | TokenNameFinderDetailedFMeasureListener.`asSpanArray(NameSample sample)`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.entitylinker

    Classes in opennlp.tools.entitylinker with type parameters of type Span
    Modifier and Type | Interface and Description
    --- | ---
    `interface` | `EntityLinker<T extends Span>` EntityLinkers establish connections to external data to enrich extracted entities.

    Subclasses of Span in opennlp.tools.entitylinker
    Modifier and Type | Class and Description
    --- | ---
    `class` | `LinkedSpan<T extends BaseLink>` An "default" extended span that holds additional information about the Span

    Methods in opennlp.tools.entitylinker with parameters of type Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence)` Links an entire document of named entities to an external source
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence)` Links an entire document of named entities to an external source
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence)` Links an entire document of named entities to an external source
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence, int sentenceIndex)` Links the names that correspond to the tokens[] spans.
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence, int sentenceIndex)` Links the names that correspond to the tokens[] spans.
    `List<T>` | EntityLinker.`find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, Span[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence, int sentenceIndex)` Links the names that correspond to the tokens[] spans.

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.entitylinker with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `LinkedSpan(ArrayList<T> linkedEntries, Span span, int offset)`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.formats.brat

    Methods in opennlp.tools.formats.brat that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | SpanAnnotation.`getSpans()`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.formats.irishsentencebank

    Methods in opennlp.tools.formats.irishsentencebank that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | IrishSentenceBankDocument.IrishSentenceBankSentence.`getTokens()`

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.formats.irishsentencebank with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `IrishSentenceBankSentence(String src, String trans, String orig, Span[] toks, IrishSentenceBankDocument.IrishSentenceBankFlex[] flx)`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.formats.nkjp

    Methods in opennlp.tools.formats.nkjp that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span` | NKJPSegmentationDocument.Pointer.`toSpan()`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.namefind

    Methods in opennlp.tools.namefind that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | BioCodec.`decode(List<String> c)`
    `Span[]` | BilouCodec.`decode(List<String> c)`
    `static Span[]` | NameFinderME.`dropOverlappingSpans(Span[] spans)` Removes spans with are intersecting or crossing in anyway.
    `Span[]` | RegexNameFinder.`find(String text)` NEW.
    `Span[]` | TokenNameFinder.`find(String[] tokens)` Generates name tags for the given sequence, typically a sentence, returning token spans for any identified names.
    `Span[]` | NameFinderME.`find(String[] tokens)`
    `Span[]` | DictionaryNameFinder.`find(String[] textTokenized)`
    `Span[]` | RegexNameFinder.`find(String[] tokens)`
    `Span[][]` | DocumentNameFinder.`find(String[][] document)` Returns tokens span for the specified document of sentences and their tokens.
    `Span[]` | NameFinderME.`find(String[] tokens, String[][] additionalContext)` Generates name tags for the given sequence, typically a sentence, returning token spans for any identified names.
    `Span[]` | NameSample.`getNames()`

    Methods in opennlp.tools.namefind with parameters of type Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `static Span[]` | NameFinderME.`dropOverlappingSpans(Span[] spans)` Removes spans with are intersecting or crossing in anyway.
    `String[]` | BioCodec.`encode(Span[] names, int length)`
    `String[]` | BilouCodec.`encode(Span[] names, int length)`
    `static String[]` | NameFinderEventStream.`generateOutcomes(Span[] names, String type, int length)` Deprecated. use the BioCodec implementation of the SequenceValidator instead!
    `double[]` | NameFinderME.`probs(Span[] spans)` Returns an array of probabilities for each of the specified spans which is the arithmetic mean of the probabilities for each of the outcomes which make up the span.

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.namefind with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `NameSample(String[] sentence, Span[] names, boolean clearAdaptiveData)`
    `NameSample(String[] sentence, Span[] names, String[][] additionalContext, boolean clearAdaptiveData)` Initializes the current instance.
    `NameSample(String id, String[] sentence, Span[] names, String[][] additionalContext, boolean clearAdaptiveData)`

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.parser

    Methods in opennlp.tools.parser that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span` | Parse.`getSpan()` Returns the character offsets for this constituent.
    `Span` | Constituent.`getSpan()` Returns the span of the constituent.

    Methods in opennlp.tools.parser with parameters of type Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `static void` | Parse.`addNames(String tag, Span[] names, Parse[] tokens)` Utility method to inserts named entities.

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.parser with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `Constituent(String label, Span span)`
    `Parse(String text, Span span, String type, double p, int index)` Creates a new parse node for this specified text and span of the specified type with the specified probability and the specified head index.
    `Parse(String text, Span span, String type, double p, Parse h)` Creates a new parse node for this specified text and span of the specified type with the specified probability and the specified head and head index.

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.sentdetect

    Methods in opennlp.tools.sentdetect that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | SentenceSample.`getSentences()` Retrieves the sentences.
    `Span[]` | SentenceDetector.`sentPosDetect(String s)` Sentence detect a string.
    `Span[]` | NewlineSentenceDetector.`sentPosDetect(String s)`
    `Span[]` | SentenceDetectorME.`sentPosDetect(String s)` Detect the position of the first words of sentences in a String.

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.sentdetect with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `SentenceSample(CharSequence document, Span... sentences)` Initializes the current instance.

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.tokenize

    Methods in opennlp.tools.tokenize that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | TokenSample.`getTokenSpans()` Retrieves the token spans.
    `Span[]` | WhitespaceTokenizer.`tokenizePos(String d)`
    `Span[]` | TokenizerME.`tokenizePos(String d)` Tokenizes the string.
    `Span[]` | Tokenizer.`tokenizePos(String s)` Finds the boundaries of atomic parts in a string.
    `Span[]` | SimpleTokenizer.`tokenizePos(String s)`

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.tokenize with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `TokenSample(String text, Span[] tokenSpans)` Initializes the current instance.

  - ### Uses of Span in opennlp.tools.util

    Methods in opennlp.tools.util that return Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `Span[]` | SequenceCodec.`decode(List<T> c)` Decodes a sequence T objects into Span objects.
    `Span` | Span.`trim(CharSequence text)` Return a copy of this span with leading and trailing white spaces removed.

    Methods in opennlp.tools.util with parameters of type Span
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `int` | Span.`compareTo(Span s)` Compares the specified span to the current span.
    `boolean` | Span.`contains(Span s)` Returns true if the specified span is contained by this span.
    `boolean` | Span.`crosses(Span s)` Returns true is the specified span crosses this span.
    `T[]` | SequenceCodec.`encode(Span[] names, int length)` Encodes Span objects into a sequence of T objects.
    `boolean` | Span.`intersects(Span s)` Returns true if the specified span intersects with this span.
    `static String[]` | Span.`spansToStrings(Span[] spans, CharSequence s)` Converts an array of `Span`s to an array of `String`s.
    `static String[]` | Span.`spansToStrings(Span[] spans, String[] tokens)`
    `boolean` | Span.`startsWith(Span s)` Returns true if the specified span is the begin of this span and the specified span is contained in this span.

    Constructors in opennlp.tools.util with parameters of type Span
    Constructor and Description
    `Span(Span span, double prob)` Creates a new immutable span based on an existing span, where the existing span did not include the prob
    `Span(Span span, int offset)` Initializes a new Span object with an existing Span which is shifted by an offset.

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