Doubt on usage of dot operator in EL

[Padma priya Gururajan]

Hi,
Is it true that anywhere the .(dot) operator is used, the [] could be used instead?
With regards,
Padma priya N.G.

[Christophe Verré]

expr-a.identifier-b is equivalent to expr-a["identifier-b"]

[Padma priya Gururajan]

Hi,
Can you please elaborate this?
With regards,
Padma priya N.G.

[khushhal yadav]

Hi Priya,

You can use . operator instead of [] only for Maps and beans. Not for arrays and lists.

For arrays and lists, you have only [] operator.

See, array and list are indexed by integers.
And for them writing
${arrayName.1} will give you an error. Because 1 is not a valid variable name as per Java convention (Any variable name can't be started with number)

However writing ${arrayName[1]} or ${arrayName["1"]} or ${arrayName['1']} will solve the purpose.

One of the main benefit of EL is that , you can have those identifiers as a variable name which are not permitted by Java standards.

And please keep in mind
You can use . operator instead of [] only for Maps and beans. Not for arrays and lists.

Regards,
Khushhal

[Michael Ku]

but the original question was

------------------------
Is it true that anywhere the .(dot) operator is used, the [] could be used instead?
------------------------

and the answer is "yes"

The reverse is not true for reasons that have been discussed previously

I assume you have asked because this is a typical question asked on mock exams

[Padma priya Gururajan]

hi,
Thanks.
With regards,
Padma priya N.G.