JSTL - Core <c:forEach>, <c:forTokens> Tag

These tags exist as a good alternative to embedding a Java for, while, or do-while loop via a scriptlet. The <c:forEach> tag is a commonly used tag because it iterates over a collection of objects. The <c:forTokens> tag is used to break a string into tokens and iterate through each of the tokens.

Attribute

The <c:forEach> tag has the following attributes −

Attribute Description Required Default
items Information to loop over No None
begin Element to start with (0 = first item, 1 = second item, ...) No 0
end Element to end with (0 = first item, 1 = second item, ...) No Last element
step Process every step items No 1
var Name of the variable to expose the current item No None
varStatus Name of the variable to expose the loop status No None

The <c:forTokens> tag has similar attributes as that of the <c:forEach> tag except one additional attribute delims which specifies sharacters to use as delimiters.

Attribute Description Required Default
delims Characters to use as delimiters Yes None

Example for <c:forEach>

<%@ taglib uri = "http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix = "c" %>

<html>
   <head>
      <title><c:forEach> Tag Example</title>
   </head>

   <body>
      <c:forEach var = "i" begin = "1" end = "5">
         Item <c:out value = "${i}"/><p>
      </c:forEach>
   </body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result −

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
Item 5

Example for <c:forTokens>

<%@ taglib uri = "http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix = "c" %>

<html>
   <head>
      <title><c:forTokens> Tag Example</title>
   </head>

   <body>
      <c:forTokens items = "Zara,nuha,roshy" delims = "," var = "name">
         <c:out value = "${name}"/><p>
      </c:forTokens>
   </body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result −

Zara
nuha
roshy
jsp_standard_tag_library.htm
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