Literal Expressions

SpEL supports the following types of literal expressions.

  • strings

  • numeric values: integer (int or long), hexadecimal (int or long), real (float or double)

  • boolean values: true or false

  • null

Strings can delimited by single quotation marks (') or double quotation marks ("). To include a single quotation mark within a string literal enclosed in single quotation marks, use two adjacent single quotation mark characters. Similarly, to include a double quotation mark within a string literal enclosed in double quotation marks, use two adjacent double quotation mark characters.

Numbers support the use of the negative sign, exponential notation, and decimal points. By default, real numbers are parsed by using Double.parseDouble().

The following listing shows simple usage of literals. Typically, they are not used in isolation like this but, rather, as part of a more complex expression — for example, using a literal on one side of a logical comparison operator or as an argument to a method.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();

// evaluates to "Hello World"
String helloWorld = (String) parser.parseExpression("'Hello World'").getValue();

// evaluates to "Tony's Pizza"
String pizzaParlor = (String) parser.parseExpression("'Tony''s Pizza'").getValue();

double avogadrosNumber = (Double) parser.parseExpression("6.0221415E+23").getValue();

// evaluates to 2147483647
int maxValue = (Integer) parser.parseExpression("0x7FFFFFFF").getValue();

boolean trueValue = (Boolean) parser.parseExpression("true").getValue();

Object nullValue = parser.parseExpression("null").getValue();
val parser = SpelExpressionParser()

// evaluates to "Hello World"
val helloWorld = parser.parseExpression("'Hello World'").value as String

// evaluates to "Tony's Pizza"
val pizzaParlor = parser.parseExpression("'Tony''s Pizza'").value as String

val avogadrosNumber = parser.parseExpression("6.0221415E+23").value as Double

// evaluates to 2147483647
val maxValue = parser.parseExpression("0x7FFFFFFF").value as Int

val trueValue = parser.parseExpression("true").value as Boolean

val nullValue = parser.parseExpression("null").value