@Override
  public ReturnCode filterCell(final Cell c) {
    int cmpMin = 1;

    if (this.minColumn != null) {
      cmpMin = CellUtil.compareQualifiers(c, this.minColumn, 0, this.minColumn.length);
    }

    if (cmpMin < 0) {
      return ReturnCode.SEEK_NEXT_USING_HINT;
    }

    if (!this.minColumnInclusive && cmpMin == 0) {
      return ReturnCode.NEXT_COL;
    }

    if (this.maxColumn == null) {
      return ReturnCode.INCLUDE;
    }

    int cmpMax = CellUtil.compareQualifiers(c, this.maxColumn, 0, this.maxColumn.length);

    if ((this.maxColumnInclusive && cmpMax <= 0) || (!this.maxColumnInclusive && cmpMax < 0)) {
      return ReturnCode.INCLUDE;
    }

    return ReturnCode.NEXT_ROW;
  }
Returns true if max column is inclusive, false otherwise
hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/ColumnRangeFilter.java