This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Framework 6.1.9!

Properties, Arrays, Lists, Maps, and Indexers

The Spring Expression Language provides support for navigating object graphs and indexing into various structures.

Numerical index values are zero-based, such as when accessing the nth element of an array in Java.
See the Safe Navigation Operator section for details on how to navigate object graphs and index into various structures using the null-safe operator.

Property Navigation

You can navigate property references within an object graph by using a period to indicate a nested property value. The instances of the Inventor class, pupin and tesla, were populated with data listed in the Classes used in the examples section. To navigate down the object graph and get Tesla’s year of birth and Pupin’s city of birth, we use the following expressions:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// evaluates to 1856
int year = (Integer) parser.parseExpression("birthdate.year + 1900").getValue(context);

// evaluates to "Smiljan"
String city = (String) parser.parseExpression("placeOfBirth.city").getValue(context);
// evaluates to 1856
val year = parser.parseExpression("birthdate.year + 1900").getValue(context) as Int

// evaluates to "Smiljan"
val city = parser.parseExpression("placeOfBirth.city").getValue(context) as String

Case insensitivity is allowed for the first letter of property names. Thus, the expressions in the above example may be written as Birthdate.Year + 1900 and PlaceOfBirth.City, respectively. In addition, properties may optionally be accessed via method invocations — for example, getPlaceOfBirth().getCity() instead of placeOfBirth.city.

Indexing into Arrays and Collections

The nth element of an array or collection (for example, a Set or List) can be obtained by using square bracket notation, as the following example shows.

If the indexed collection is a java.util.List, the nth element will be accessed directly via list.get(n).

For any other type of Collection, the nth element will be accessed by iterating over the collection using its Iterator and returning the nth element encountered.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
EvaluationContext context = SimpleEvaluationContext.forReadOnlyDataBinding().build();

// Inventions Array

// evaluates to "Induction motor"
String invention = parser.parseExpression("inventions[3]").getValue(
		context, tesla, String.class);

// Members List

// evaluates to "Nikola Tesla"
String name = parser.parseExpression("members[0].name").getValue(
		context, ieee, String.class);

// List and Array Indexing

// evaluates to "Wireless communication"
String invention = parser.parseExpression("members[0].inventions[6]").getValue(
		context, ieee, String.class);
val parser = SpelExpressionParser()
val context = SimpleEvaluationContext.forReadOnlyDataBinding().build()

// Inventions Array

// evaluates to "Induction motor"
val invention = parser.parseExpression("inventions[3]").getValue(
		context, tesla, String::class.java)

// Members List

// evaluates to "Nikola Tesla"
val name = parser.parseExpression("members[0].name").getValue(
		context, ieee, String::class.java)

// List and Array Indexing

// evaluates to "Wireless communication"
val invention = parser.parseExpression("members[0].inventions[6]").getValue(
		context, ieee, String::class.java)

Indexing into Strings

The nth character of a string can be obtained by specifying the index within square brackets, as demonstrated in the following example.

The nth character of a string will evaluate to a java.lang.String, not a java.lang.Character.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// evaluates to "T" (8th letter of "Nikola Tesla")
String character = parser.parseExpression("members[0].name[7]")
		.getValue(societyContext, String.class);
// evaluates to "T" (8th letter of "Nikola Tesla")
val character = parser.parseExpression("members[0].name[7]")
		.getValue(societyContext, String::class.java)

Indexing into Maps

The contents of maps are obtained by specifying the key value within square brackets. In the following example, because keys for the officers map are strings, we can specify string literals such as 'president':

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// Officer's Map

// evaluates to Inventor("Pupin")
Inventor pupin = parser.parseExpression("officers['president']")
		.getValue(societyContext, Inventor.class);

// evaluates to "Idvor"
String city = parser.parseExpression("officers['president'].placeOfBirth.city")
		.getValue(societyContext, String.class);

String countryExpression = "officers['advisors'][0].placeOfBirth.country";

// setting values
parser.parseExpression(countryExpression)
		.setValue(societyContext, "Croatia");

// evaluates to "Croatia"
String country = parser.parseExpression(countryExpression)
		.getValue(societyContext, String.class);
// Officer's Map

// evaluates to Inventor("Pupin")
val pupin = parser.parseExpression("officers['president']")
		.getValue(societyContext, Inventor::class.java)

// evaluates to "Idvor"
val city = parser.parseExpression("officers['president'].placeOfBirth.city")
		.getValue(societyContext, String::class.java)

val countryExpression = "officers['advisors'][0].placeOfBirth.country"

// setting values
parser.parseExpression(countryExpression)
		.setValue(societyContext, "Croatia")

// evaluates to "Croatia"
val country = parser.parseExpression(countryExpression)
		.getValue(societyContext, String::class.java)

Indexing into Objects

A property of an object can be obtained by specifying the name of the property within square brackets. This is analogous to accessing the value of a map based on its key. The following example demonstrates how to index into an object to retrieve a specific property.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// Create an inventor to use as the root context object.
Inventor tesla = new Inventor("Nikola Tesla");

// evaluates to "Nikola Tesla"
String name = parser.parseExpression("#root['name']")
		.getValue(context, tesla, String.class);
// Create an inventor to use as the root context object.
val tesla = Inventor("Nikola Tesla")

// evaluates to "Nikola Tesla"
val name = parser.parseExpression("#root['name']")
		.getValue(context, tesla, String::class.java)

Indexing into Custom Structures

Since Spring Framework 6.2, the Spring Expression Language supports indexing into custom structures by allowing developers to implement and register an IndexAccessor with the EvaluationContext. If you would like to support compilation of expressions that rely on a custom index accessor, that index accessor must implement the CompilableIndexAccessor SPI.

To support common use cases, Spring provides a built-in ReflectiveIndexAccessor which is a flexible IndexAccessor that uses reflection to read from and optionally write to an indexed structure of a target object. The indexed structure can be accessed through a public read-method (when being read) or a public write-method (when being written). The relationship between the read-method and write-method is based on a convention that is applicable for typical implementations of indexed structures.

ReflectiveIndexAccessor also implements CompilableIndexAccessor in order to support compilation to bytecode for read access. Note, however, that the configured read-method must be invokable via a public class or public interface for compilation to succeed.

The following code listings define a Color enum and FruitMap type that behaves like a map but does not implement the java.util.Map interface. Thus, if you want to index into a FruitMap within a SpEL expression, you will need to register an IndexAccessor.

public enum Color {
	RED, ORANGE, YELLOW
}
public class FruitMap {

	private final Map<Color, String> map = new HashMap<>();

	public FruitMap() {
		this.map.put(Color.RED, "cherry");
		this.map.put(Color.ORANGE, "orange");
		this.map.put(Color.YELLOW, "banana");
	}

	public String getFruit(Color color) {
		return this.map.get(color);
	}

	public void setFruit(Color color, String fruit) {
		this.map.put(color, fruit);
	}
}

A read-only IndexAccessor for FruitMap can be created via new ReflectiveIndexAccessor(FruitMap.class, Color.class, "getFruit"). With that accessor registered and a FruitMap registered as a variable named #fruitMap, the SpEL expression #fruitMap[T(example.Color).RED] will evaluate to "cherry".

A read-write IndexAccessor for FruitMap can be created via new ReflectiveIndexAccessor(FruitMap.class, Color.class, "getFruit", "setFruit"). With that accessor registered and a FruitMap registered as a variable named #fruitMap, the SpEL expression #fruitMap[T(example.Color).RED] = 'strawberry' can be used to change the fruit mapping for the color red from "cherry" to "strawberry".

The following example demonstrates how to register a ReflectiveIndexAccessor to index into a FruitMap and then index into the FruitMap within a SpEL expression.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// Create a ReflectiveIndexAccessor for FruitMap
IndexAccessor fruitMapAccessor = new ReflectiveIndexAccessor(
		FruitMap.class, Color.class, "getFruit", "setFruit");

// Register the IndexAccessor for FruitMap
context.addIndexAccessor(fruitMapAccessor);

// Register the fruitMap variable
context.setVariable("fruitMap", new FruitMap());

// evaluates to "cherry"
String fruit = parser.parseExpression("#fruitMap[T(example.Color).RED]")
		.getValue(context, String.class);
// Create a ReflectiveIndexAccessor for FruitMap
val fruitMapAccessor = ReflectiveIndexAccessor(
		FruitMap::class.java, Color::class.java, "getFruit", "setFruit")

// Register the IndexAccessor for FruitMap
context.addIndexAccessor(fruitMapAccessor)

// Register the fruitMap variable
context.setVariable("fruitMap", FruitMap())

// evaluates to "cherry"
val fruit = parser.parseExpression("#fruitMap[T(example.Color).RED]")
	.getValue(context, String::class.java)