* excluding <code>null</code> values.
*/
protected static Comparator getNotNullStringComparator(boolean ignoreCase,
Locale locale) {
if (locale != null) {
return new LocaleStringComparator(ignoreCase, locale);
}
if (ignoreCase) {
return IgnoreCaseComparator.INSTANCE;
}
return ComparableComparator.INSTANCE;