Extends the `javax.naming` package to provide functionality for accessing directory services.

This package defines the directory operations of the Java Naming and Directory Interface™ (JNDI). JNDI provides naming and directory functionality to applications written in the Java programming language. It is designed to be independent of any specific naming or directory service implementation. Thus a variety of services--new, emerging, and already deployed ones--can be accessed in a common way.

This package allows applications to retrieve and update attributes associated with objects stored in a directory, and to search for objects using specified attributes.

### The Directory Context

The `DirContext` interface represents a directory context. It defines methods for examining and updating attributes associated with a directory object, or directory entry as it is sometimes called.

You use `getAttributes()` to retrieve the attributes associated with a directory object (for which you supply the name). Attributes are modified using `modifyAttributes()`. You can add, replace, or remove attributes and/or attribute values using this operation.

`DirContext` also behaves as a naming context by extending the `Context` interface in the `javax.naming` package. This means that any directory object can also provide a naming context. For example, the directory object for a person might contain the attributes of that person, and at the same time provide a context for naming objects relative to that person such as his printers and home directory.

#### Searches

`DirContext` contains methods for performing content-based searching of the directory. In the simplest and most common form of usage, the application specifies a set of attributes--possibly with specific values--to match, and submits this attribute set, to the `search()` method. There are other overloaded forms of `search()` that support more sophisticated search filters.

## Package Specification

The JNDI API Specification and related documents can be found in the {@extLink jndi_overview JNDI documentation}. @since 1.3