Spring classpath prefix difference
Solution 1:
SIMPLE DEFINITION
The classpath*:conf/appContext.xml
simply means that all appContext.xml files under conf
folders in all your jars on the classpath will be picked up and joined into one big application context.
In contrast, classpath:conf/appContext.xml
will load only one such file... the first one found on your classpath.
Solution 2:
The classpath*:...
syntax is useful primarily when you want to build an application context from multiple bean definition files, using wildcard syntax.
For example, if you construct your context using classpath*:appContext.xml
, the classpath will be scanned for every resource called appContext.xml
in the classpath, and the bean definitions from all of them merged into a single context.
In contrast, classpath:conf/appContext.xml
will obtain one and only one file called appContext.xml
from the the classpath. If there is more than one, the others will be ignored.
Solution 3:
classpath*: It refers to a list of resources and loads all such files present in the classpath and list can be empty and if no such file is present in the classpath then application does not throw any exception(just ignores the error).
classpath: It refers to a certain resource and loads only the first file found on the classpath and if no such file is present in the classpath it will throw an exception
java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [conf/appContext.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist