Top Description Fields Methods
jakarta.servlet.http

public Interface HttpServletRequest

extends ServletRequest
Known Direct Implementers
jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequestWrapper, org.apache.catalina.connector.Request, org.apache.catalina.connector.RequestFacade
Imports
java.io.IOException, java.util.Collection, .Collections, .Enumeration, .Map, jakarta.servlet.ServletException, .ServletRequest

Extends the jakarta.servlet.ServletRequest interface to provide request information for HTTP servlets.

The servlet container creates an HttpServletRequest object and passes it as an argument to the servlet's service methods (doGet, doPost, etc).

Field Summary

Modifier and TypeField and Description
public static final String
BASIC_AUTH

String identifier for Basic authentication.

public static final String
CLIENT_CERT_AUTH

String identifier for Client Certificate authentication.

public static final String
DIGEST_AUTH

String identifier for Digest authentication.

public static final String
FORM_AUTH

String identifier for Form authentication.

Method Summary

Modifier and TypeMethod and Description
public boolean

Returns:

true if the user is successfully authenticated and false if not
authenticate
(HttpServletResponse
The response to use to return any authentication challenge
response
)

Triggers the same authentication process as would be triggered if the request is for a resource that is protected by a security constraint.

public String

Returns:

the new session ID allocated to the session
changeSessionId
()

Changes the session ID of the session associated with this request.

public String

Returns:

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.
getAuthType
()

Returns the name of the authentication scheme used to protect the servlet.

public String

Returns:

a String specifying the portion of the request URI that indicates the context of the request
getContextPath
()

Returns the portion of the request URI that indicates the context of the request.

public Cookie[]

Returns:

an array of all the Cookies included with this request, or null if the request has no cookies
getCookies
()

Returns an array containing all of the Cookie objects the client sent with this request.

public long

Returns:

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
getDateHeader
(String
a String specifying the name of the header
name
)

Returns the value of the specified request header as a long value that represents a Date object.

public String

Returns:

a String containing the value of the requested header, or null if the request does not have a header of that name
getHeader
(String
a String specifying the header name
name
)

Returns the value of the specified request header as a String.

public Enumeration<String>

Returns:

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
getHeaderNames
()

Returns an enumeration of all the header names this request contains.

public Enumeration<String>

Returns:

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
getHeaders
(String
a String specifying the header name
name
)

Returns all the values of the specified request header as an Enumeration of String objects.

public default HttpServletMapping

Returns:

the mapping information for this request
getHttpServletMapping
()

Obtain the mapping information for this request.

public int

Returns:

an integer expressing the value of the request header or -1 if the request doesn't have a header of this name
getIntHeader
(String
a String specifying the name of a request header
name
)

Returns the value of the specified request header as an int.

public String

Returns:

a String specifying the name of the method with which this request was made
getMethod
()

Returns the name of the HTTP method with which this request was made, for example, GET, POST, or PUT.

public Part

Returns:

The named Part or null if the Part does not exist
getPart
(String
The name of the Part to obtain
name
)

Gets the named Part or null if the Part does not exist.

public Collection<Part>

Returns:

A collection of all uploaded Parts.
getParts
()

Return a collection of all uploaded Parts.

public String

Returns:

a String, canonicalized 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
getPathInfo
()

Returns any extra path information associated with the URL the client sent when it made this request.

public String

Returns:

a String specifying the real path, or null if the URL does not have any extra path information
getPathTranslated
()

Returns any extra path information after the servlet name but before the query string, and translates it to a real path.

public String

Returns:

a String containing the query string or null if the URL contains no query string. The value is not decoded by the container.
getQueryString
()

Returns the query string that is contained in the request URL after the path.

public String

Returns:

a String specifying the login of the user making this request, or null if the user login is not known
getRemoteUser
()

Returns the login of the user making this request, if the user has been authenticated, or null if the user has not been authenticated.

public String

Returns:

a String specifying the session ID, or null if the request did not specify a session ID
getRequestedSessionId
()

Returns the session ID specified by the client.

public String

Returns:

a String containing the part of the URL from the protocol name up to the query string
getRequestURI
()

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.

public StringBuffer

Returns:

a StringBuffer object containing the reconstructed URL
getRequestURL
()

Reconstructs the URL the client used to make the request.

public String

Returns:

a String, canonicalized by the web container, containing the name or path of the servlet being called, as specified in the request URL, or an empty string if the servlet used to process the request is matched using the "/*" pattern.
getServletPath
()

Returns the part of this request's URL that calls the servlet.

public HttpSession

Returns:

the HttpSession associated with this request or null if create is false and the request has no valid session
getSession
(boolean
true to create a new session for this request if necessary; false to return null if there's no current session
create
)

Returns the current HttpSession associated with this request or, if there is no current session and create is true, returns a new session.

public HttpSession

Returns:

the HttpSession associated with this request
getSession
()

Returns the current session associated with this request, or if the request does not have a session, creates one.

public default Map<String, String>

Returns:

A Map of the received trailer fields with all keys lower case or an empty Map if no trailers are present
getTrailerFields
()

Obtain a Map of the trailer fields that is not backed by the request object.

public Principal

Returns:

a java.security.Principal containing the name of the user making this request; null if the user has not been authenticated
getUserPrincipal
()

Returns a java.security.Principal object containing the name of the current authenticated user.

public boolean

Returns:

true if the session ID came in as a cookie; otherwise, false
isRequestedSessionIdFromCookie
()

Checks whether the requested session ID came in as a cookie.

public boolean

Returns:

true if the session ID came in as part of a URL; otherwise, false
isRequestedSessionIdFromURL
()

Checks whether the requested session ID came in as part of the request URL.

public boolean

Returns:

true if this request has an id for a valid session in the current session context; false otherwise
isRequestedSessionIdValid
()

Checks whether the requested session ID is still valid.

public default boolean

Returns:

true if trailers are ready to be read
isTrailerFieldsReady
()

Are trailer fields ready to be read (there may still be no trailers to read).

public boolean

Returns:

a boolean indicating whether the user making this request belongs to a given role; false if the user has not been authenticated
isUserInRole
(String
a String specifying the name of the role
role
)

Returns a boolean indicating whether the authenticated user is included in the specified logical "role".

public void
login(String
The user name to authenticate
username
,
String
The password to use to authenticate the user
password
)

Authenticate the provided user name and password and then associated the authenticated user with the request.

public void
logout()

Removes any authenticated user from the request.

public default PushBuilder

Returns:

A builder that can be used to generate push requests based on this request or null if push is not supported. Note that even if a PushBuilder instance is returned, by the time that PushBuilder#push() is called, it may no longer be valid to push a request and the push request will be ignored.
newPushBuilder
()

Obtain a builder for generating push requests.

public <
The type of the upgrade handler
T extends HttpUpgradeHandler
>
T

Returns:

A newly created instance of the specified upgrade handler type
upgrade
(Class<T>
The class that implements the upgrade handler
httpUpgradeHandlerClass
)

Start the HTTP upgrade process and create and instance of the provided protocol handler class.

Inherited from jakarta.servlet.ServletRequest:
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Field Detail

BASIC_AUTHback to summary
public static final String BASIC_AUTH

String identifier for Basic authentication. Value "BASIC"

CLIENT_CERT_AUTHback to summary
public static final String CLIENT_CERT_AUTH

String identifier for Client Certificate authentication. Value "CLIENT_CERT"

DIGEST_AUTHback to summary
public static final String DIGEST_AUTH

String identifier for Digest authentication. Value "DIGEST"

FORM_AUTHback to summary
public static final String FORM_AUTH

String identifier for Form authentication. Value "FORM"

Method Detail

authenticateback to summary
public boolean authenticate(HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ServletException

Triggers the same authentication process as would be triggered if the request is for a resource that is protected by a security constraint.

Parameters
response:HttpServletResponse

The response to use to return any authentication challenge

Returns:boolean

true if the user is successfully authenticated and false if not

Exceptions
IOException:
if the authentication process attempted to read from the request or write to the response and an I/O error occurred
ServletException:
if the authentication failed and the caller is expected to handle the failure
IllegalStateException:
if the authentication process attempted to write to the response after it had been committed
Since
Servlet 3.0
changeSessionIdback to summary
public String changeSessionId()

Changes the session ID of the session associated with this request. This method does not create a new session object it only changes the ID of the current session.

Returns:String

the new session ID allocated to the session

Since
Servlet 3.1
See Also
HttpSessionIdListener
getAuthTypeback to summary
public String getAuthType()

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.

Returns:String

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.

getContextPathback to summary
public String getContextPath()

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.

Returns:String

a String specifying the portion of the request URI that indicates the context of the request

getCookiesback to summary
public Cookie[] getCookies()

Returns an array containing all of the Cookie objects the client sent with this request. This method returns null if no cookies were sent.

Returns:Cookie[]

an array of all the Cookies included with this request, or null if the request has no cookies

getDateHeaderback to summary
public long getDateHeader(String name)

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.

Parameters
name:String

a String specifying the name of the header

Returns:long

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

Exceptions
IllegalArgumentException:
If the header value can't be converted to a date
getHeaderback to summary
public String getHeader(String name)

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.

Parameters
name:String

a String specifying the header name

Returns:String

a String containing the value of the requested header, or null if the request does not have a header of that name

getHeaderNamesback to summary
public Enumeration<String> getHeaderNames()

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

Returns:Enumeration<String>

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

getHeadersback to summary
public Enumeration<String> getHeaders(String name)

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.

Parameters
name:String

a String specifying the header name

Returns:Enumeration<String>

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

getHttpServletMappingback to summary
public default HttpServletMapping getHttpServletMapping()

Obtain the mapping information for this request.

Returns:HttpServletMapping

the mapping information for this request

getIntHeaderback to summary
public int getIntHeader(String name)

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.

Parameters
name:String

a String specifying the name of a request header

Returns:int

an integer expressing the value of the request header or -1 if the request doesn't have a header of this name

Exceptions
NumberFormatException:
If the header value can't be converted to an int
getMethodback to summary
public String getMethod()

Returns the name of the HTTP method with which this request was made, for example, GET, POST, or PUT. Same as the value of the CGI variable REQUEST_METHOD.

Returns:String

a String specifying the name of the method with which this request was made

getPartback to summary
public Part getPart(String name) throws IOException, ServletException

Gets the named Part or null if the Part does not exist. Triggers upload of all Parts.

Parameters
name:String

The name of the Part to obtain

Returns:Part

The named Part or null if the Part does not exist

Exceptions
IOException:
if an I/O error occurs
ServletException:
if the request is not multipart/form-data
IllegalStateException:
if size limits are exceeded
Since
Servlet 3.0
getPartsback to summary
public Collection<Part> getParts() throws IOException, ServletException

Return a collection of all uploaded Parts.

Returns:Collection<Part>

A collection of all uploaded Parts.

Exceptions
IOException:
if an I/O error occurs
ServletException:
if the request is not multipart/form-data
IllegalStateException:
if size limits are exceeded or no multipart configuration is provided
Since
Servlet 3.0
getPathInfoback to summary
public String getPathInfo()

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.

The URL will be canonicalized as per section 3.5 of the specification before the path information, if any, is extracted.

Returns:String

a String, canonicalized 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

getPathTranslatedback to summary
public String getPathTranslated()

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.

Returns:String

a String specifying the real path, or null if the URL does not have any extra path information

getQueryStringback to summary
public String getQueryString()

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.

Returns:String

a String containing the query string or null if the URL contains no query string. The value is not decoded by the container.

getRemoteUserback to summary
public String getRemoteUser()

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.

Returns:String

a String specifying the login of the user making this request, or null if the user login is not known

getRequestedSessionIdback to summary
public String getRequestedSessionId()

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.

Returns:String

a String specifying the session ID, or null if the request did not specify a session ID

See Also
isRequestedSessionIdValid
getRequestURIback to summary
public String getRequestURI()

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:

Examples of Returned Values
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 a URL with a scheme and host, use getRequestURL.

Returns:String

a String containing the part of the URL from the protocol name up to the query string

See Also
getRequestURL
getRequestURLback to summary
public StringBuffer getRequestURL()

Reconstructs the URL the client used to make the request. The returned URL contains a protocol, server name, port number, and server path, but it does not include query string parameters.

Because this method returns a StringBuffer, not a string, you can modify the URL easily, for example, to append query parameters.

This method is useful for creating redirect messages and for reporting errors.

Returns:StringBuffer

a StringBuffer object containing the reconstructed URL

getServletPathback to summary
public String getServletPath()

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.

The URL will be canonicalized as per section 3.5 of the specification before the path information, if any, is extracted.

This method will return an empty string ("") if the servlet used to process this request was matched using the "/*" pattern.

Returns:String

a String, canonicalized by the web container, containing the name or path of the servlet being called, as specified in the request URL, or an empty string if the servlet used to process the request is matched using the "/*" pattern.

getSessionback to summary
public HttpSession getSession(boolean create)

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.

Parameters
create:boolean

true to create a new session for this request if necessary; false to return null if there's no current session

Returns:HttpSession

the HttpSession associated with this request or null if create is false and the request has no valid session

See Also
getSession()
getSessionback to summary
public HttpSession getSession()

Returns the current session associated with this request, or if the request does not have a session, creates one.

Returns:HttpSession

the HttpSession associated with this request

See Also
getSession(boolean)
getTrailerFieldsback to summary
public default Map<String, String> getTrailerFields()

Obtain a Map of the trailer fields that is not backed by the request object.

Returns:Map<String, String>

A Map of the received trailer fields with all keys lower case or an empty Map if no trailers are present

Since
Servlet 4.0
getUserPrincipalback to summary
public Principal getUserPrincipal()

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.

Returns:Principal

a java.security.Principal containing the name of the user making this request; null if the user has not been authenticated

isRequestedSessionIdFromCookieback to summary
public boolean isRequestedSessionIdFromCookie()

Checks whether the requested session ID came in as a cookie.

Returns:boolean

true if the session ID came in as a cookie; otherwise, false

See Also
getSession
isRequestedSessionIdFromURLback to summary
public boolean isRequestedSessionIdFromURL()

Checks whether the requested session ID came in as part of the request URL.

Returns:boolean

true if the session ID came in as part of a URL; otherwise, false

See Also
getSession
isRequestedSessionIdValidback to summary
public boolean isRequestedSessionIdValid()

Checks whether the requested session ID is still valid.

Returns:boolean

true if this request has an id for a valid session in the current session context; false otherwise

See Also
getRequestedSessionId, getSession
isTrailerFieldsReadyback to summary
public default boolean isTrailerFieldsReady()

Are trailer fields ready to be read (there may still be no trailers to read). This method always returns true if the underlying protocol does not support trailer fields. Otherwise, true is returned once all of the following are true:

  • The application has ready all the request data and an EOF has been received or the content-length is zero
  • All trailer fields, if any, have been received
Returns:boolean

true if trailers are ready to be read

Since
Servlet 4.0
isUserInRoleback to summary
public boolean isUserInRole(String role)

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.

Parameters
role:String

a String specifying the name of the role

Returns:boolean

a boolean indicating whether the user making this request belongs to a given role; false if the user has not been authenticated

loginback to summary
public void login(String username, String password) throws ServletException

Authenticate the provided user name and password and then associated the authenticated user with the request.

Parameters
username:String

The user name to authenticate

password:String

The password to use to authenticate the user

Exceptions
ServletException:
If any of getRemoteUser(), getUserPrincipal() or getAuthType() are non-null, if the configured authenticator does not support user name and password authentication or if the authentication fails
Since
Servlet 3.0
logoutback to summary
public void logout() throws ServletException

Removes any authenticated user from the request.

Exceptions
ServletException:
If the logout fails
Since
Servlet 3.0
newPushBuilderback to summary
public default PushBuilder newPushBuilder()

Obtain a builder for generating push requests. PushBuilder documents how this request will be used as the basis for a push request. Each call to this method will return a new instance, independent of any previous instance obtained.

Returns:PushBuilder

A builder that can be used to generate push requests based on this request or null if push is not supported. Note that even if a PushBuilder instance is returned, by the time that PushBuilder#push() is called, it may no longer be valid to push a request and the push request will be ignored.

Since
Servlet 4.0
upgradeback to summary
public <T extends HttpUpgradeHandler> T upgrade(Class<T> httpUpgradeHandlerClass) throws IOException, ServletException

Start the HTTP upgrade process and create and instance of the provided protocol handler class. The connection will be passed this instance once the current request/response pair has completed processing. Calling this method sets the response status to HttpServletResponse#SC_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS.

Parameters
<T>
The type of the upgrade handler
httpUpgradeHandlerClass:Class<T>

The class that implements the upgrade handler

Returns:T

A newly created instance of the specified upgrade handler type

Exceptions
IOException:
if an I/O error occurred during the upgrade
ServletException:
if the given httpUpgradeHandlerClass fails to be instantiated
Since
Servlet 3.1