Returns an Enumeration containing the names of the attributes available to this request. This method returns an empty Enumeration if the request has no attributes available to it.
an Enumeration of strings containing the names of the request's attributes
Returns the name of the authentication scheme used to protect the servlet. All servlet containers support basic, form and client certificate authentication, and may additionally support digest authentication. If the servlet is not authenticated null is returned.
Same as the value of the CGI variable AUTH_TYPE.
one of the static members BASIC_AUTH, FORM_AUTH, CLIENT_CERT_AUTH, DIGEST_AUTH (suitable for == comparison) or the container-specific string indicating the authentication scheme, or null if the request was not authenticated.
Returns the name of the character encoding used in the body of this request. This method returns null if the request does not specify a character encoding
a String containing the name of the character encoding, or null if the request does not specify a character encoding
Returns the length, in bytes, of the request body and made available by the input stream, or -1 if the length is not known ir is greater than Integer.MAX_VALUE. For HTTP servlets, same as the value of the CGI variable CONTENT_LENGTH.
an integer containing the length of the request body or -1 if the length is not known or is greater than Integer.MAX_VALUE.
Returns the length, in bytes, of the request body and made available by the input stream, or -1 if the length is not known. For HTTP servlets, same as the value of the CGI variable CONTENT_LENGTH.
a long containing the length of the request body or -1L if the length is not known
Servlet 3.1
Returns the portion of the request URI that indicates the context of the request. The context path always comes first in a request URI. The path starts with a "/" character but does not end with a "/" character. For servlets in the default (root) context, this method returns "". The container does not decode this string.
It is possible that a servlet container may match a context by more than one context path. In such cases this method will return the actual context path used by the request and it may differ from the path returned by the javax.servlet.ServletContext#getContextPath() method. The context path returned by javax.servlet.ServletContext#getContextPath() should be considered as the prime or preferred context path of the application.
a String specifying the portion of the request URI that indicates the context of the request
javax.servlet.ServletContext#getContextPath()
Returns the value of the specified request header as a long value that represents a Date object. Use this method with headers that contain dates, such as If-Modified-Since.
The date is returned as the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970 GMT. The header name is case insensitive.
If the request did not have a header of the specified name, this method returns -1. If the header can't be converted to a date, the method throws an IllegalArgumentException.
a String specifying the name of the header
a long value representing the date specified in the header expressed as the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970 GMT, or -1 if the named header was not included with the request
IllegalArgumentException If the header value can't be converted to a date
Returns the value of the specified request header as a String. If the request did not include a header of the specified name, this method returns null. If there are multiple headers with the same name, this method returns the first head in the request. The header name is case insensitive. You can use this method with any request header.
a String specifying the header name
a String containing the value of the requested header, or null if the request does not have a header of that name
Returns an enumeration of all the header names this request contains. If the request has no headers, this method returns an empty enumeration.
Some servlet containers do not allow servlets to access headers using this method, in which case this method returns null
an enumeration of all the header names sent with this request; if the request has no headers, an empty enumeration; if the servlet container does not allow servlets to use this method, null
Returns all the values of the specified request header as an Enumeration of String objects.
Some headers, such as Accept-Language can be sent by clients as several headers each with a different value rather than sending the header as a comma separated list.
If the request did not include any headers of the specified name, this method returns an empty Enumeration. The header name is case insensitive. You can use this method with any request header.
a String specifying the header name
an Enumeration containing the values of the requested header. If the request does not have any headers of that name return an empty enumeration. If the container does not allow access to header information, return null
Retrieves the body of the request as binary data using a ServletInputStream. Either this method or #getReader may be called to read the body, not both.
a ServletInputStream object containing the body of the request
IllegalStateException if the #getReader method has already been called for this request
IOException if an input or output exception occurred
Returns the value of the specified request header as an int. If the request does not have a header of the specified name, this method returns -1. If the header cannot be converted to an integer, this method throws a NumberFormatException.
The header name is case insensitive.
a String specifying the name of a request header
an integer expressing the value of the request header or -1 if the request doesn't have a header of this name
NumberFormatException If the header value can't be converted to an int
Returns an Enumeration of Locale objects indicating, in decreasing order starting with the preferred locale, the locales that are acceptable to the client based on the Accept-Language header. If the client request doesn't provide an Accept-Language header, this method returns an Enumeration containing one Locale, the default locale for the server.
an Enumeration of preferred Locale objects for the client
Returns the value of a request parameter as a String, or null if the parameter does not exist. Request parameters are extra information sent with the request. For HTTP servlets, parameters are contained in the query string or posted form data.
You should only use this method when you are sure the parameter has only one value. If the parameter might have more than one value, use #getParameterValues.
If you use this method with a multivalued parameter, the value returned is equal to the first value in the array returned by getParameterValues.
If the parameter data was sent in the request body, such as occurs with an HTTP POST request, then reading the body directly via #getInputStream or #getReader can interfere with the execution of this method.
a String specifying the name of the parameter
a String representing the single value of the parameter
#getParameterValues
Returns a java.util.Map of the parameters of this request.
Request parameters are extra information sent with the request. For HTTP servlets, parameters are contained in the query string or posted form data.
an immutable java.util.Map containing parameter names as keys and parameter values as map values. The keys in the parameter map are of type String. The values in the parameter map are of type String array.
Returns an Enumeration of String objects containing the names of the parameters contained in this request. If the request has no parameters, the method returns an empty Enumeration.
an Enumeration of String objects, each String containing the name of a request parameter; or an empty Enumeration if the request has no parameters
Returns an array of String objects containing all of the values the given request parameter has, or null if the parameter does not exist.
If the parameter has a single value, the array has a length of 1.
a String containing the name of the parameter whose value is requested
an array of String objects containing the parameter's values
#getParameter
Gets the Part with the given name.
the name of the requested Part
The Part with the given name, or null if this request is of type multipart/form-data, but does not contain the requested Part
IOException if an I/O error occurred during the retrieval of the requested Part
ServletException if this request is not of type multipart/form-data
IllegalStateException if the request body is larger than maxRequestSize, or any Part in the request is larger than maxFileSize, or there is no
or multipart-config in deployment descriptors
Servlet 3.0
Gets all the Part components of this request, provided that it is of type multipart/form-data.
If this request is of type multipart/form-data, but does not contain any Part components, the returned Collection will be empty.
Any changes to the returned Collection must not affect this HttpServletRequest.
a (possibly empty) Collection of the Part components of this request
IOException if an I/O error occurred during the retrieval of the Part components of this request
ServletException if this request is not of type multipart/form-data
IllegalStateException if the request body is larger than maxRequestSize, or any Part in the request is larger than maxFileSize, or there is no
or multipart-config in deployment descriptors
Servlet 3.0
Returns any extra path information associated with the URL the client sent when it made this request. The extra path information follows the servlet path but precedes the query string and will start with a "/" character.
This method returns null if there was no extra path information.
Same as the value of the CGI variable PATH_INFO.
a String, decoded by the web container, specifying extra path information that comes after the servlet path but before the query string in the request URL; or null if the URL does not have any extra path information
Returns any extra path information after the servlet name but before the query string, and translates it to a real path. Same as the value of the CGI variable PATH_TRANSLATED.
If the URL does not have any extra path information, this method returns null or the servlet container cannot translate the virtual path to a real path for any reason (such as when the web application is executed from an archive).
The web container does not decode this string.
a String specifying the real path, or null if the URL does not have any extra path information
Returns the name and version of the protocol the request uses in the form protocol/majorVersion.minorVersion, for example, HTTP/1.1. For HTTP servlets, the value returned is the same as the value of the CGI variable SERVER_PROTOCOL.
a String containing the protocol name and version number
Returns the query string that is contained in the request URL after the path. This method returns null if the URL does not have a query string. Same as the value of the CGI variable QUERY_STRING.
a String containing the query string or null if the URL contains no query string. The value is not decoded by the container.
Retrieves the body of the request as character data using a BufferedReader. The reader translates the character data according to the character encoding used on the body. Either this method or #getInputStream may be called to read the body, not both.
a BufferedReader containing the body of the request
UnsupportedEncodingException if the character set encoding used is not supported and the text cannot be decoded
IllegalStateException if #getInputStream method has been called on this request
IOException if an input or output exception occurred
#getInputStream
Returns the fully qualified name of the client or the last proxy that sent the request. If the engine cannot or chooses not to resolve the hostname (to improve performance), this method returns the dotted-string form of the IP address. For HTTP servlets, same as the value of the CGI variable REMOTE_HOST.
a String containing the fully qualified name of the client
Returns the login of the user making this request, if the user has been authenticated, or null if the user has not been authenticated. Whether the user name is sent with each subsequent request depends on the browser and type of authentication. Same as the value of the CGI variable REMOTE_USER.
a String specifying the login of the user making this request, or null if the user login is not known
Returns the part of this request's URL from the protocol name up to the query string in the first line of the HTTP request. The web container does not decode this String. For example:
First line of HTTP request
Returned Value
POST /some/path.html HTTP/1.1/some/path.html
GET http://foo.bar/a.html HTTP/1.0
/a.html
HEAD /xyz?a=b HTTP/1.1/xyz
To reconstruct an URL with a scheme and host, use HttpUtils#getRequestURL.
a String containing the part of the URL from the protocol name up to the query string
HttpUtils#getRequestURL
Returns the session ID specified by the client. This may not be the same as the ID of the current valid session for this request. If the client did not specify a session ID, this method returns null.
a String specifying the session ID, or null if the request did not specify a session ID
#isRequestedSessionIdValid
Returns the part of this request's URL that calls the servlet. This path starts with a "/" character and includes either the servlet name or a path to the servlet, but does not include any extra path information or a query string. Same as the value of the CGI variable SCRIPT_NAME.
This method will return an empty string ("") if the servlet used to process this request was matched using the "/*" pattern.
a String containing the name or path of the servlet being called, as specified in the request URL, decoded, or an empty string if the servlet used to process the request is matched using the "/*" pattern.
Returns the current HttpSession associated with this request or, if there is no current session and create is true, returns a new session.
If create is false and the request has no valid HttpSession, this method returns null.
To make sure the session is properly maintained, you must call this method before the response is committed. If the container is using cookies to maintain session integrity and is asked to create a new session when the response is committed, an IllegalStateException is thrown.
true to create a new session for this request if necessary; false to return null if there's no current session
the HttpSession associated with this request or null if create is false and the request has no valid session
#getSession()
Returns the current session associated with this request, or if the request does not have a session, creates one.
the HttpSession associated with this request
#getSession(boolean)
Returns a java.security.Principal object containing the name of the current authenticated user. If the user has not been authenticated, the method returns null.
a java.security.Principal containing the name of the user making this request; null if the user has not been authenticated
Checks if this request has been put into asynchronous mode.
A ServletRequest is put into asynchronous mode by calling #startAsync or #startAsync(ServletRequest,ServletResponse) on it.
This method returns false if this request was put into asynchronous mode, but has since been dispatched using one of the AsyncContext#dispatch methods or released from asynchronous mode via a call to AsyncContext#complete.
true if this request has been put into asynchronous mode, false otherwise
Servlet 3.0
Checks if this request supports asynchronous operation.
Asynchronous operation is disabled for this request if this request is within the scope of a filter or servlet that has not been annotated or flagged in the deployment descriptor as being able to support asynchronous handling.
true if this request supports asynchronous operation, false otherwise
Servlet 3.0
Checks whether the requested session ID is still valid.
If the client did not specify any session ID, this method returns false.
true if this request has an id for a valid session in the current session context; false otherwise
Returns a boolean indicating whether the authenticated user is included in the specified logical "role". Roles and role membership can be defined using deployment descriptors. If the user has not been authenticated, the method returns false.
The role name “” should never be used as an argument in calling isUserInRole. Any call to isUserInRole with “” must return false. If the role-name of the security-role to be tested is “”, and the application has NOT declared an application security-role with role-name “”, isUserInRole must only return true if the user has been authenticated; that is, only when #getRemoteUser and #getUserPrincipal would both return a non-null value. Otherwise, the container must check the user for membership in the application role.
a String specifying the name of the role
a boolean indicating whether the user making this request belongs to a given role; false if the user has not been authenticated
Returns the value of the named attribute as an Object, or null if no attribute of the given name exists.
Attributes can be set two ways. The servlet container may set attributes to make available custom information about a request. For example, for requests made using HTTPS, the attribute javax.servlet.request.X509Certificate can be used to retrieve information on the certificate of the client. Attributes can also be set programatically using ServletRequest#setAttribute. This allows information to be embedded into a request before a RequestDispatcher call.
Attribute names should follow the same conventions as package names. This specification reserves names matching java., javax., and sun.*.