How does Tomcat handle static files?

Tomcat typically uses the DefaultServlet to handle static files. The DefaultServlet is a built-in servlet in Tomcat that is used to handle static resource files such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images. When Tomcat receives a request, it first checks for a corresponding servlet mapping, and if none is found, it will be handled by the DefaultServlet.

By default, Tomcat’s web.xml will be configured with a DefaultServlet mapped to the “/” path, meaning that all requests for static resource files will be handled by DefaultServlet. DefaultServlet will search for the corresponding static resource file based on the requested path and return it to the client.

Configuring DefaultServlet in web.xml of Tomcat allows you to set parameters such as cacheMaxSize, cacheTTL, and readonly to control the caching and read-only nature of static resource files.

In general, Tomcat handles static files using the DefaultServlet, which can be configured in the web.xml file to control the processing of static files based on specific needs.