javax.el.ELException: The identifier [return] is not a valid Java identifier

Question

I have a page url, which looks like:

http://mydomain.com/nodes/32/article/new?return=view

After installing tomcat 7, when trying to access it I got this exception:

/nodes/${param.id}/article/new?return=${param.return}
contains invalid expression(s): javax.el.ELException: The identifier [return] is not a valid Java identifier as required by section 1.19 of the EL specification (Identifier ::= Java language identifier). This check can be disabled by setting the system property org.apache.el.parser.SKIP_IDENTIFIER_CHECK to true.

Any ideas why I get that? To fix it should I change this property in tomcat only?

Solution

return is a reserved keyword in the Java Programming Language(tm). But luckily there is an alternative spelling. Try param['return'] instead.

Comments

[Roland Illig]

I have no experience doing that. Maybe, if you are lucky, there is some documentation in the Tomcat manual.

[Roland Illig]

You could ask Mark Thomas ([email protected]) what he intended when he committed svn.apache.org/viewvc?view=revision&revision=981951. Maybe he will document the intention and the consequences of using this configuration directive.