How can I upload files to a server using JSP/Servlet?

Introduction

To browse and select a file for upload you need a HTML <input type="file"> field in the form. As stated in the HTML specification you have to use the POST method and the enctype attribute of the form has to be set to "multipart/form-data".

<form action="upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="text" name="description" />
    <input type="file" name="file" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

After submitting such a form, the binary multipart form data is available in the request body in a different format than when the enctype isn't set.

Before Servlet 3.0 (Dec 2009), the Servlet API didn't natively support multipart/form-data. It supports only the default form enctype of application/x-www-form-urlencoded. The request.getParameter() and consorts would all return null when using multipart form data. This is where the well known Apache Commons FileUpload came into the picture.

Don't manually parse it!

You can in theory parse the request body yourself based on ServletRequest#getInputStream(). However, this is a precise and tedious work which requires precise knowledge of RFC2388. You shouldn't try to do this on your own or copypaste some homegrown library-less code found elsewhere on the Internet. Many online sources have failed hard in this, such as roseindia.net. See also uploading of pdf file. You should rather use a real library which is used (and implicitly tested!) by millions of users for years. Such a library has proven its robustness.

When you're already on Servlet 3.0 or newer, use native API

If you're using at least Servlet 3.0 (Tomcat 7, Jetty 9, JBoss AS 6, GlassFish 3, etc, they exist already since 2010), then you can just use standard API provided HttpServletRequest#getPart() to collect the individual multipart form data items (most Servlet 3.0 implementations actually use Apache Commons FileUpload under the covers for this!). Also, normal form fields are available by getParameter() the usual way.

First annotate your servlet with @MultipartConfig in order to let it recognize and support multipart/form-data requests and thus get getPart() to work:

@WebServlet("/upload")
@MultipartConfig
public class UploadServlet extends HttpServlet {
    // ...
}

Then, implement its doPost() as follows:

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    String description = request.getParameter("description"); // Retrieves <input type="text" name="description">
    Part filePart = request.getPart("file"); // Retrieves <input type="file" name="file">
    String fileName = Paths.get(filePart.getSubmittedFileName()).getFileName().toString(); // MSIE fix.
    InputStream fileContent = filePart.getInputStream();
    // ... (do your job here)
}

Note the Path#getFileName(). This is a MSIE fix as to obtaining the file name. This browser incorrectly sends the full file path along the name instead of only the file name.

In case you want to upload multiple files via either multiple="true",

<input type="file" name="files" multiple="true" />

or the old-fashioned way with multiple inputs,

<input type="file" name="files" />
<input type="file" name="files" />
<input type="file" name="files" />
...

then you can collect them as below (unfortunately there is no such method as request.getParts("files")):

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    // ...
    List<Part> fileParts = request.getParts().stream().filter(part -> "files".equals(part.getName()) && part.getSize() > 0).collect(Collectors.toList()); // Retrieves <input type="file" name="files" multiple="true">

    for (Part filePart : fileParts) {
        String fileName = Paths.get(filePart.getSubmittedFileName()).getFileName().toString(); // MSIE fix.
        InputStream fileContent = filePart.getInputStream();
        // ... (do your job here)
    }
}

When you're not on Servlet 3.1 yet, manually get submitted file name

Note that Part#getSubmittedFileName() was introduced in Servlet 3.1 (Tomcat 8, Jetty 9, WildFly 8, GlassFish 4, etc, they exist since 2013 already). If you're not on Servlet 3.1 yet (really?), then you need an additional utility method to obtain the submitted file name.

private static String getSubmittedFileName(Part part) {
    for (String cd : part.getHeader("content-disposition").split(";")) {
        if (cd.trim().startsWith("filename")) {
            String fileName = cd.substring(cd.indexOf('=') + 1).trim().replace("\"", "");
            return fileName.substring(fileName.lastIndexOf('/') + 1).substring(fileName.lastIndexOf('\\') + 1); // MSIE fix.
        }
    }
    return null;
}

String fileName = getSubmittedFileName(filePart);

Note the MSIE fix as to obtaining the file name. This browser incorrectly sends the full file path along the name instead of only the file name.

When you're not on Servlet 3.0 yet, use Apache Commons FileUpload

If you're not on Servlet 3.0 yet (isn't it about time to upgrade? it's released over a decade ago!), the common practice is to make use of Apache Commons FileUpload to parse the multpart form data requests. It has an excellent User Guide and FAQ (carefully go through both). There's also the O'Reilly ("cos") MultipartRequest, but it has some (minor) bugs and isn't actively maintained anymore for years. I wouldn't recommend using it. Apache Commons FileUpload is still actively maintained and currently very mature.

In order to use Apache Commons FileUpload, you need to have at least the following files in your webapp's /WEB-INF/lib:

commons-fileupload.jar

commons-io.jar

Your initial attempt failed most likely because you forgot the commons IO.

Here's a kickoff example how the doPost() of your UploadServlet may look like when using Apache Commons FileUpload:

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    try {
        List<FileItem> items = new ServletFileUpload(new DiskFileItemFactory()).parseRequest(request);
        for (FileItem item : items) {
            if (item.isFormField()) {
                // Process regular form field (input type="text|radio|checkbox|etc", select, etc).
                String fieldName = item.getFieldName();
                String fieldValue = item.getString();
                // ... (do your job here)
            } else {
                // Process form file field (input type="file").
                String fieldName = item.getFieldName();
                String fileName = FilenameUtils.getName(item.getName());
                InputStream fileContent = item.getInputStream();
                // ... (do your job here)
            }
        }
    } catch (FileUploadException e) {
        throw new ServletException("Cannot parse multipart request.", e);
    }

    // ...
}

It's very important that you don't call getParameter(), getParameterMap(), getParameterValues(), getInputStream(), getReader(), etc on the same request beforehand. Otherwise the servlet container will read and parse the request body and thus Apache Commons FileUpload will get an empty request body. See also a.o. ServletFileUpload#parseRequest(request) returns an empty list.

Note the FilenameUtils#getName(). This is a MSIE fix as to obtaining the file name. This browser incorrectly sends the full file path along the name instead of only the file name.

Alternatively you can also wrap this all in a Filter which parses it all automagically and put the stuff back in the parametermap of the request so that you can continue using request.getParameter() the usual way and retrieve the uploaded file by request.getAttribute(). You can find an example in this blog article.

Workaround for GlassFish3 bug of getParameter() still returning null

Note that Glassfish versions older than 3.1.2 had a bug wherein the getParameter() still returns null. If you are targeting such a container and can't upgrade it, then you need to extract the value from getPart() with help of this utility method:

private static String getValue(Part part) throws IOException {
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(part.getInputStream(), "UTF-8"));
    StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder();
    char[] buffer = new char[1024];
    for (int length = 0; (length = reader.read(buffer)) > 0;) {
        value.append(buffer, 0, length);
    }
    return value.toString();
}

String description = getValue(request.getPart("description")); // Retrieves <input type="text" name="description">
    

Saving uploaded file (don't use getRealPath() nor part.write()!)

Head to the following answers for detail on properly saving the obtained InputStream (the fileContent variable as shown in the above code snippets) to disk or database:

Recommended way to save uploaded files in a servlet application

How to upload an image and save it in database?

How to convert Part to Blob, so I can store it in MySQL?

Serving uploaded file

Head to the following answers for detail on properly serving the saved file from disk or database back to the client:

Load images from outside of webapps / webcontext / deploy folder using or tag

How to retrieve and display images from a database in a JSP page?

Simplest way to serve static data from outside the application server in a Java web application

Abstract template for static resource servlet supporting HTTP caching

Ajaxifying the form

Head to the following answers how to upload using Ajax (and jQuery). Do note that the servlet code to collect the form data does not need to be changed for this! Only the way how you respond may be changed, but this is rather trivial (i.e. instead of forwarding to JSP, just print some JSON or XML or even plain text depending on whatever the script responsible for the Ajax call is expecting).

How can I upload files to a server using JSP/Servlet and Ajax?

Send a file as multipart through XMLHttpRequest

HTML5 drag and drop file upload to Java Servlet

Hope this all helps :)

---

If you happen to use Spring MVC, this is how to (I'm leaving this here in case someone find it useful):

Use a form with enctype attribute set to "multipart/form-data" (the same as BalusC's answer):

<form action="upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="file" name="file" />
    <input type="submit" value="Upload"/>
</form>

In your controller, map the request parameter file to MultipartFile type as follows:

@RequestMapping(value = "/upload", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public void handleUpload(@RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file) throws IOException {
    if (!file.isEmpty()) {
            byte[] bytes = file.getBytes(); // alternatively, file.getInputStream();
            // application logic
    }
}

You can get the filename and size using MultipartFile's getOriginalFilename() and getSize().

I've tested this with Spring version 4.1.1.RELEASE.

---

Without components or external libraries in Tomcat 6 or Tomcat 7

Enabling upload in the web.xml file:

Manually Installing PHP, Tomcat and Httpd Lounge.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>jsp</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet</servlet-class>
    <multipart-config>
      <max-file-size>3145728</max-file-size>
      <max-request-size>5242880</max-request-size>
    </multipart-config>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>fork</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>xpoweredBy</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>3</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

As you can see:

<multipart-config>
  <max-file-size>3145728</max-file-size>
  <max-request-size>5242880</max-request-size>
</multipart-config>

Uploading files using JSP. files:

In the HTML file

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="Form" >

  <input type="file" name="fFoto" id="fFoto" value="" /></td>
  <input type="file" name="fResumen" id="fResumen" value=""/>

In the JSP File or Servlet

InputStream isFoto = request.getPart("fFoto").getInputStream();
InputStream isResu = request.getPart("fResumen").getInputStream();
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
byte buf[] = new byte[8192];
int qt = 0;
while ((qt = isResu.read(buf)) != -1) {
  baos.write(buf, 0, qt);
}
String sResumen = baos.toString();

Edit your code to servlet requirements, like max-file-size, max-request-size and other options that you can to set...

---

You need the common-io.1.4.jar file to be included in your lib directory, or if you're working in any editor, like NetBeans, then you need to go to project properties and just add the JAR file and you will be done.

To get the common.io.jar file just google it or just go to the Apache Tomcat website where you get the option for a free download of this file. But remember one thing: download the binary ZIP file if you're a Windows user.

---

I am using a common Servlet for every HTML form whether it has attachments or not.

This Servlet returns a TreeMap where the keys are JSP name parameters and values are user inputs and saves all attachments in a fixed directory and later you rename the directory of your choice. Here Connections is our custom interface having a connection object.

public class ServletCommonfunctions extends HttpServlet implements
        Connections {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public ServletCommonfunctions() {}

    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
                          HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException,
                          IOException {}

    public SortedMap<String, String> savefilesindirectory(
            HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws IOException {

        // Map<String, String> key_values = Collections.synchronizedMap(new
        // TreeMap<String, String>());
        SortedMap<String, String> key_values = new TreeMap<String, String>();
        String dist = null, fact = null;
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        File file;
        String filePath = "E:\\FSPATH1\\2KL06CS048\\";
        System.out.println("Directory Created   ????????????"
            + new File(filePath).mkdir());
        int maxFileSize = 5000 * 1024;
        int maxMemSize = 5000 * 1024;

        // Verify the content type
        String contentType = request.getContentType();
        if ((contentType.indexOf("multipart/form-data") >= 0)) {
            DiskFileItemFactory factory = new DiskFileItemFactory();
            // Maximum size that will be stored in memory
            factory.setSizeThreshold(maxMemSize);
            // Location to save data that is larger than maxMemSize.
            factory.setRepository(new File(filePath));
            // Create a new file upload handler
            ServletFileUpload upload = new ServletFileUpload(factory);
            // maximum file size to be uploaded.
            upload.setSizeMax(maxFileSize);
            try {
                // Parse the request to get file items.
                @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
                List<FileItem> fileItems = upload.parseRequest(request);
                // Process the uploaded file items
                Iterator<FileItem> i = fileItems.iterator();
                while (i.hasNext()) {
                    FileItem fi = (FileItem) i.next();
                    if (!fi.isFormField()) {
                        // Get the uploaded file parameters
                        String fileName = fi.getName();
                        // Write the file
                        if (fileName.lastIndexOf("\\") >= 0) {
                            file = new File(filePath
                                + fileName.substring(fileName
                                        .lastIndexOf("\\")));
                        } else {
                            file = new File(filePath
                                + fileName.substring(fileName
                                        .lastIndexOf("\\") + 1));
                        }
                        fi.write(file);
                    } else {
                        key_values.put(fi.getFieldName(), fi.getString());
                    }
                }
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                System.out.println(ex);
            }
        }
        return key_values;
    }
}

---

For Spring MVC

I managed to have a simpler version that worked for taking form input, both data and images.

<form action="/handleform" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="text" name="name" />
    <input type="text" name="age" />
    <input type="file" name="file" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

Controller to handle

@Controller
public class FormController {
    @RequestMapping(value="/handleform",method= RequestMethod.POST)
    ModelAndView register(@RequestParam String name, @RequestParam int age, @RequestParam MultipartFile file)
            throws ServletException, IOException {

        System.out.println(name);
        System.out.println(age);
        if(!file.isEmpty()){
            byte[] bytes = file.getBytes();
            String filename = file.getOriginalFilename();
            BufferedOutputStream stream =new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(new File("D:/" + filename)));
            stream.write(bytes);
            stream.flush();
            stream.close();
        }
        return new ModelAndView("index");
    }
}

---

Another source of this problem occurs if you are using Geronimo with its embedded Tomcat. In this case, after many iterations of testing Commons IO and commons-fileupload, the problem arises from a parent classloader handling the commons-xxx JAR files. This has to be prevented. The crash always occurred at:

fileItems = uploader.parseRequest(request);

Note that the List type of fileItems has changed with the current version of commons-fileupload to be specifically List<FileItem> as opposed to prior versions where it was generic List.

I added the source code for commons-fileupload and Commons IO into my Eclipse project to trace the actual error and finally got some insight. First, the exception thrown is of type Throwable not the stated FileIOException nor even Exception (these will not be trapped). Second, the error message is obfuscatory in that it stated class not found because axis2 could not find commons-io. Axis2 is not used in my project at all, but it exists as a folder in the Geronimo repository subdirectory as part of standard installation.

Finally, I found one place that posed a working solution which successfully solved my problem. You must hide the JAR files from the parent loader in the deployment plan. This was put into the geronimo-web.xml file with my full file shown below.

Pasted from http://osdir.com/ml/user-geronimo-apache/2011-03/msg00026.html:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<web:web-app xmlns:app="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/j2ee/application-2.0" xmlns:client="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/j2ee/application-client-2.0" xmlns:conn="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/j2ee/connector-1.2" xmlns:dep="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/deployment-1.2" xmlns:ejb="http://openejb.apache.org/xml/ns/openejb-jar-2.2" xmlns:log="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/loginconfig-2.0" xmlns:name="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/naming-1.2" xmlns:pers="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence" xmlns:pkgen="http://openejb.apache.org/xml/ns/pkgen-2.1" xmlns:sec="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/security-2.0" xmlns:web="http://geronimo.apache.org/xml/ns/j2ee/web-2.0.1">
    <dep:environment>
        <dep:moduleId>
            <dep:groupId>DataStar</dep:groupId>
            <dep:artifactId>DataStar</dep:artifactId>
            <dep:version>1.0</dep:version>
            <dep:type>car</dep:type>
        </dep:moduleId>

        <!-- Don't load commons-io or fileupload from parent classloaders -->
        <dep:hidden-classes>
            <dep:filter>org.apache.commons.io</dep:filter>
            <dep:filter>org.apache.commons.fileupload</dep:filter>
        </dep:hidden-classes>
        <dep:inverse-classloading/>

    </dep:environment>
    <web:context-root>/DataStar</web:context-root>
</web:web-app>

---

Here's an example using apache commons-fileupload:

// apache commons-fileupload to handle file upload
DiskFileItemFactory factory = new DiskFileItemFactory();
factory.setRepository(new File(DataSources.TORRENTS_DIR()));
ServletFileUpload fileUpload = new ServletFileUpload(factory);

List<FileItem> items = fileUpload.parseRequest(req.raw());
FileItem item = items.stream()
  .filter(e ->
  "the_upload_name".equals(e.getFieldName()))
  .findFirst().get();
String fileName = item.getName();

item.write(new File(dir, fileName));
log.info(fileName);

---

You first have to set the enctype attribute of the form to "multipart/form-data"

This is shown below.

<form action="Controller" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
     <label class="file-upload"> Click here to upload an Image </label>
     <input type="file" name="file" id="file" required>
</form>

And then, in the Servlet "Controller" add the Annotation for a Multi-part to indicate multipart data is processed in the servlet.

After doing this, retrieve the part sent through the form and then retrieve the file name (with path)of the submitted file. Use this to create a new file in the desired path and write the parts of the file to the newly created file to recreate the file.

As shown below:

@MultipartConfig

public class Controller extends HttpServlet {

    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        insertImage(request, response);
    }

    private void addProduct(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
        Part filePart = request.getPart("file");
        String imageName = Paths.get(filePart.getSubmittedFileName()).getFileName().toString();

        String imageSavePath = "specify image path to save image"; //path to save image
        FileOutputStream outputStream = null;
        InputStream fileContent = null;

        try {
            outputStream = new FileOutputStream(new File(imageSavePath + File.separator + imageName));
            // Creating a new file with file path and the file name
            fileContent = filePart.getInputStream();
            // Getting the input stream
            int readBytes = 0;
            byte[] readArray = new byte[1024];
            // Initializing a byte array with size 1024

            while ((readBytes = fileContent.read(readArray)) != -1) {
                outputStream.write(readArray, 0, readBytes);
            } // This loop will write the contents of the byte array unitl the end to the output stream
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            System.out.println("Error Writing File: " + ex);
        } finally {
            if (outputStream != null) {
                outputStream.close();
                // Closing the output stream
            }
            if (fileContent != null) {
                fileContent.close();
                // Closing the input stream
            }
        }
    }
}

---

The simplest way I could come up with for files and input controls, without a billion libraries:

  <%
      if (request.getContentType() == null)
          return;
      // For input type=text controls
      String v_Text =
          (new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(request.getPart("Text1").getInputStream()))).readLine();

      // For input type=file controls
      InputStream inStr = request.getPart("File1").getInputStream();
      char charArray[] = new char[inStr.available()];
      new InputStreamReader(inStr).read(charArray);
      String contents = new String(charArray);
  %>

---

Use:

DiskFileUpload upload = new DiskFileUpload();

From this object you have to get the file items and fields, and then you can store into the server like the following:

String loc = "./webapps/prjct name/server folder/" + contentid + extension;
File uploadFile = new File(loc);
item.write(uploadFile);

---

You can upload a file using JSP /servlet.

<form action="UploadFileServlet" method="post">
    <input type="text" name="description" />
    <input type="file" name="file" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

On the other hand, on the server side, use the following code.

package com.abc..servlet;

import java.io.File;
---------
--------


/**
 * Servlet implementation class UploadFileServlet
 */
public class UploadFileServlet extends HttpServlet {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public UploadFileServlet() {
        super();
        // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
    }
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        response.sendRedirect("../jsp/ErrorPage.jsp");
    }

    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        HttpSession httpSession = request.getSession();
        String filePathUpload = (String) httpSession.getAttribute("path") != null ? httpSession.getAttribute("path").toString() : "" ;

        String path1 = filePathUpload;
        String filename = null;
        File path = null;
        FileItem item = null;


        boolean isMultipart = ServletFileUpload.isMultipartContent(request);

        if (isMultipart) {
            FileItemFactory factory = new DiskFileItemFactory();
            ServletFileUpload upload = new ServletFileUpload(factory);
            String FieldName = "";
            try {
                List items = upload.parseRequest(request);
                Iterator iterator = items.iterator();
                while (iterator.hasNext()) {
                     item = (FileItem) iterator.next();

                        if (fieldname.equals("description")) {
                            description = item.getString();
                        }
                    }
                    if (!item.isFormField()) {
                        filename = item.getName();
                        path = new File(path1 + File.separator);
                        if (!path.exists()) {
                            boolean status = path.mkdirs();
                        }
                        /* Start of code fro privilege */

                        File uploadedFile = new File(path + Filename);  // for copy file
                        item.write(uploadedFile);
                        }
                    } else {
                        f1 = item.getName();
                    }

                } // END OF WHILE
                response.sendRedirect("welcome.jsp");
            } catch (FileUploadException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }
}

---

HTML page

<html>
    <head>
        <title>File Uploading Form</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <h3>File Upload:</h3>
        Select a file to upload: <br />
        <form action="UploadServlet" method="post"
              enctype="multipart/form-data">

            <input type="file" name="file" size="50" />
            <br />
            <input type="submit" value="Upload File" />
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

Servlet file

// Import required java libraries
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

import javax.servlet.ServletConfig;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileItem;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileUploadException;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.disk.DiskFileItemFactory;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;
import org.apache.commons.io.output.*;

public class UploadServlet extends HttpServlet {

    private boolean isMultipart;
    private String filePath;
    private int maxFileSize = 50 * 1024;
    private int maxMemSize = 4 * 1024;
    private File file;

    public void init() {
        // Get the file location where it would be stored.
        filePath =
               getServletContext().getInitParameter("file-upload");
    }

    public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
                       HttpServletResponse response)
               throws ServletException, java.io.IOException {

        // Check that we have a file upload request
        isMultipart = ServletFileUpload.isMultipartContent(request);
        response.setContentType("text/html");
        java.io.PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        if (!isMultipart) {
            out.println("<html>");
            out.println("<head>");
            out.println("<title>Servlet upload</title>");
            out.println("</head>");
            out.println("<body>");
            out.println("<p>No file uploaded</p>");
            out.println("</body>");
            out.println("</html>");
            return;
        }

        DiskFileItemFactory factory = new DiskFileItemFactory();
        // Maximum size that will be stored in memory
        factory.setSizeThreshold(maxMemSize);
        // Location to save data that is larger than maxMemSize.
        factory.setRepository(new File("c:\\temp"));

        // Create a new file upload handler
        ServletFileUpload upload = new ServletFileUpload(factory);
        // maximum file size to be uploaded.
        upload.setSizeMax(maxFileSize);

        try {
            // Parse the request to get file items.
            List fileItems = upload.parseRequest(request);

            // Process the uploaded file items
            Iterator i = fileItems.iterator();

            out.println("<html>");
            out.println("<head>");
            out.println("<title>Servlet upload</title>");
            out.println("</head>");
            out.println("<body>");
            while (i.hasNext())
            {
                FileItem fi = (FileItem)i.next();
                if (!fi.isFormField())
                {
                     // Get the uploaded file parameters
                     String fieldName = fi.getFieldName();
                     String fileName = fi.getName();
                     String contentType = fi.getContentType();
                     boolean isInMemory = fi.isInMemory();
                     long sizeInBytes = fi.getSize();

                     // Write the file
                     if (fileName.lastIndexOf("\\") >= 0) {
                         file = new File(filePath +
                         fileName.substring(fileName.lastIndexOf("\\")));
                     }
                     else {
                         file = new File(filePath +
                         fileName.substring(fileName.lastIndexOf("\\") + 1));
                     }
                     fi.write(file);
                     out.println("Uploaded Filename: " + fileName + "<br>");
                }
            }
            out.println("</body>");
            out.println("</html>");
        }
        catch(Exception ex) {
            System.out.println(ex);
        }
    }

    public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
                        HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, java.io.IOException {

        throw new ServletException("GET method used with " +
                 getClass().getName() + ": POST method required.");
    }
}

File web.xml

Compile the above servlet UploadServlet and create the required entry in the web.xml file as follows.

<servlet>
   <servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
   <servlet-class>UploadServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/UploadServlet</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

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Sending multiple files for file, we have to use enctype="multipart/form-data".

And to send multiple files, use multiple="multiple" in the input tag:

<form action="upload" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="file" name="fileattachments"  multiple="multiple"/>
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

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