servlet-mapping / url-pattern: / vs /*

[Raf Szczypiorski]

Hi. What is the semantic difference between / and /* in url-pattern of servlet-mapping? Is it any different?

[Sagar Birari]

The answer is in the servlet spec:

quote:
SRV.11.2 Specification of Mappings

In theWeb application deployment descriptor, the following syntax is used to define mappings:

* A string beginning with a / character and ending with a /* suffix is used for path mapping.
* A string beginning with a *. prefix is used as an extension mapping.
* A string containing only the / character indicates the "default" servlet of the application. In this case the servlet path is the request URI minus the context path and the path info is null.
* All other strings are used for exact matches only.



The pattern /* will force everything through your servlet.
The pattern / will make your servlet the default servlet for the app, meaning it will pick up every pattern that doesn't have another exact match.

Regards

[Raf Szczypiorski]

Thank you for your answer.
I've just downloaded the specs and will read it ;-)

[dexter morgan]

After getting this wrong like 2 dozen times over the last ten years, I want to say this post is probably the best answer *except* that the spec has one other provision that is relevant. JSPs are implicitly mapped to the "*.jsp" mapping. So, if you use the mapping that puts everything through your servlet (/*), you basically can't use JSPs (cuz any time you forward or redirect to a JSP, the request is going to boomerang back to your servlet).

[Bear Bibeault]

This also applies to other resources such as images, stylesheets and scripts. It's rarely useful to map /*.

Also, dexter morgan, please use real words when posting to the forums and avoid fake words such as "cuz". Thanks.