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 * distributed with this work for additional information
 * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
 * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
 * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
 * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
 * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
 * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
 * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
 * specific language governing permissions and limitations
 * under the License.
 * ====================================================================
 *
 * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
 * individuals on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation.  For more
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 * <http://www.apache.org/>.
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package org.apache.http;

import org.apache.http.util.CharArrayBuffer;

An HTTP header which is already formatted.
For example when headers are received, the original formatting
can be preserved. This allows for the header to be sent without
another formatting step.
Since:
4.0/**
 * An HTTP header which is already formatted.
 * For example when headers are received, the original formatting
 * can be preserved. This allows for the header to be sent without
 * another formatting step.
 *
 * @since 4.0
 */
public interface FormattedHeader extends Header {

    
Obtains the buffer with the formatted header.
The returned buffer MUST NOT be modified.
Returns:
 the formatted header, in a buffer that must not be modified/**
     * Obtains the buffer with the formatted header.
     * The returned buffer MUST NOT be modified.
     *
     * @return  the formatted header, in a buffer that must not be modified
     */
    CharArrayBuffer getBuffer();

    
Obtains the start of the header value in the buffer. By accessing the value in the buffer, creation of a temporary string can be avoided. 
Returns:
 index of the first character of the header value in the buffer returned by getBuffer./**
     * Obtains the start of the header value in the {@link #getBuffer buffer}.
     * By accessing the value in the buffer, creation of a temporary string
     * can be avoided.
     *
     * @return  index of the first character of the header value
     *          in the buffer returned by {@link #getBuffer getBuffer}.
     */
    int getValuePos();

}