Documented here it states
This special prefix specifies that all classpath resources that match the given name must be obtained (internally, this essentially happens via a ClassLoader.getResources(...) call), and then merged to form the final application context definition.
Can someone explain this?
What is the difference between using classpath*:conf/appContext.xml as opposed to classpath:conf/appContext.xml without the asterisk.
The source code of Spring:
public Resource[] getResources(String locationPattern) throws IOException {
Assert.notNull(locationPattern, "Location pattern must not be null");
//CLASSPATH_ALL_URL_PREFIX="classpath*:"
if (locationPattern.startsWith(CLASSPATH_ALL_URL_PREFIX)) {
// a class path resource (multiple resources for same name possible)
if (getPathMatcher().isPattern(locationPattern.substring(CLASSPATH_ALL_URL_PREFIX.length()))) {
// a class path resource pattern
return findPathMatchingResources(locationPattern);
}
else {
// all class path resources with the given name
return findAllClassPathResources(locationPattern.substring(CLASSPATH_ALL_URL_PREFIX.length()));
}
}
else {
// Only look for a pattern after a prefix here
// (to not get fooled by a pattern symbol in a strange prefix).
int prefixEnd = locationPattern.indexOf(":") + 1;
if (getPathMatcher().isPattern(locationPattern.substring(prefixEnd))) {
// a file pattern
return findPathMatchingResources(locationPattern);
}
else {
// a single resource with the given name
return new Resource[] {getResourceLoader().getResource(locationPattern)};
}
}
}