url-pattern
is used in web.xml
to map your servlet
to specific URL. Please see below xml code, similar code you may find in your web.xml
configuration file.
<servlet>
<servlet-name>AddPhotoServlet</servlet-name> //servlet name
<servlet-class>upload.AddPhotoServlet</servlet-class> //servlet class
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>AddPhotoServlet</servlet-name> //servlet name
<url-pattern>/AddPhotoServlet</url-pattern> //how it should appear
</servlet-mapping>
If you change url-pattern
of AddPhotoServlet
from /AddPhotoServlet
to /MyUrl
. Then, AddPhotoServlet
servlet can be accessible by using /MyUrl
. Good for the security reason, where you want to hide your actual page URL.
Java Servlet url-pattern
Specification:
- 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.
Reference : Java Servlet Specification
You may also read this Basics of Java Servlet