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<document>
 <properties>
  <title>Home</title>
  <author email="dev@commons.apache.org">Commons Documentation Team</author>
 </properties>
<body>
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<section name="Commons Lang">

<p>
The standard Java libraries fail to provide enough methods for
manipulation of its core classes. Apache Commons Lang provides
these extra methods. 
</p>

<p>
Lang provides a host of helper utilities for the java.lang API, notably 
String manipulation methods, basic numerical methods, object reflection, concurrency, creation and serialization 
and System properties. Additionally it contains basic enhancements to java.util.Date and a series of utilities dedicated to help with 
building methods, such as hashCode, toString and equals.
</p>
<p>
Note that Lang 3.0 (and subsequent versions) use a different package (<i>org.apache.commons.lang3</i>) than the previous versions (<i>org.apache.commons.lang</i>), allowing it to be used at the same time as an earlier version.
</p>
</section>
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<section name="Documentation">
<p>
A getting started <a href="userguide.html">user guide</a> is available
together with various <a href="project-reports.html">project reports</a>.
</p>
<p>
The JavaDoc API documents are available online:
</p>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="api-3.1/index.html">current stable release 3.1</a> [Java 5.0+]</li>
<li>The <a href="api-2.6/index.html">legacy release 2.6</a> [Java 1.2+]</li>
<li>Older releases - see the <a href="release-history.html">Release History</a> page</li>
</ul>
<p>
The <a href="source-repository.html">subversion repository</a> can be
<a href="http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/commons/proper/lang/trunk/">browsed</a>.
</p>
</section>
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<section name="Release Information">
<p>The latest stable release of Lang is 3.1. You may: </p>
<ul>
<li>Download <a href="http://commons.apache.org/lang/download_lang.cgi">3.1</a></li>
<li>Read the <a href="release-notes/RELEASE-NOTES-3.1.txt">3.1 release notes</a></li>
<li>Examine the <a href="article3_0.html">2.x to 3.0 upgrade notes</a></li>
<li>Compare major versions via the <a href="lang2-lang3-clirr-report.html">Lang2 to Lang3 Clirr report</a></li>
</ul>

<p>
Alternatively you can pull it from the central Maven repositories:
<pre>
  &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.commons&lt;/groupId&gt;
  &lt;artifactId&gt;commons-lang3&lt;/artifactId&gt;
  &lt;version&gt;3.1&lt;/version&gt;
</pre>
</p>

<p>
For information on previous releases see the <a href="release-history.html">Release History</a>, and to download previous releases see the <a href="http://archive.apache.org/dist/commons/lang/">Commons Lang Archive</a>.
</p>
</section>
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<section name="Support">
<p>
The <a href="mail-lists.html">commons mailing lists</a> act as the main support forum.
The user list is suitable for most library usage queries.
The dev list is intended for the development discussion.
Please remember that the lists are shared between all commons components,
so prefix your email by [lang].
</p>
<p>
Bug reports and enhancements are also welcomed via the <a href="issue-tracking.html">JIRA</a> issue tracker.
Please read the instructions carefully.
</p>
</section>
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</body>
</document>
