<?php
  /*
   * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
   * "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
   * LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
   * A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
   * OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
   * SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
   * LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
   * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
   * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
   * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
   * OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
   *
   * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many individuals
   * and is licensed under the MIT license. For more information, see
   * <http://www.doctrine-project.org>.
   */
  
  namespace Doctrine\Common\Collections;
  
  /**
   * Interface for collections that allow efficient filtering with an expression API.
   *
   * Goal of this interface is a backend independent method to fetch elements
   * from a collections. {@link Expression} is crafted in a way that you can
   * implement queries from both in-memory and database-backed collections.
   *
   * For database backed collections this allows very efficient access by
   * utilizing the query APIs, for example SQL in the ORM. Applications using
   * this API can implement efficient database access without having to ask the
   * EntityManager or Repositories.
   *
   * @author Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de>
   * @since 2.3
   */
  interface Selectable
  {
      /**
       * Select all elements from a selectable that match the expression and
       * return a new collection containing these elements.
       *
       * @param Criteria $criteria
       * @return Collection
       */
      function matching(Criteria $criteria);
  }