I currently work on a parser. I walk a tree, most of it being quite determinist (I have a finite number of values I can find).

Usually in these cases, I create an enum with the name of the value I expect to find, like this : 

```
public enum myElements{
    like, 
    not_like,// "not like" is transformed in not_like by parser
    exists;
}   

```

in this case, I can check whether a string belongs to the enum this way : 

```
String my_string;
myElements.valueOf(my_string);

```

The thing is that currently I work with special characters ({">", "<", "<>", ...)
It is not possible to create enum value with special characters.

What I would like is to associate an enum with those special characters elements, something like 

```
public enum myElements{
    greather_than(">"), 
    smaller_than("<")
}

```

and continue using something as straightforward as:

```
myElements.valueOf(my_string);

```

For the moments I use enums everywhere but for these elements, where I use of table. I'd like to harmonize this

BTW, I work with Java6, due to some dependancies. 

An idea is welcome, 
Thanks !

**EDIT :** 

Here is an example of the current table version I use : 

```
public static String[] compElements = {">", "<", "<>", "=", "<=", ">="};

```

with the equivalent for the valueOf : 

```
Arrays.asList(compElements).contains(my_string);

```