Java – Compile error: package javax.servlet does not exist

compilationcompiler-errorsjavaservlets

I have a package in which I import javax.servlet.* and javax.servlet.http.*
When I try to compile it in command prompt I get the error

package javax.servlet does not exist

I use JDK 1.7.0 and Tomcat 6.0.

Best Answer

You need to add the path to Tomcat's /lib/servlet-api.jar file to the compile time classpath.

javac -cp .;/path/to/Tomcat/lib/servlet-api.jar com/example/MyServletClass.java

The classpath is where Java needs to look for imported dependencies. It will otherwise default to the current folder which is included as . in the above example. The ; is the path separator for Windows; if you're using an Unix based OS, then you need to use : instead.

If you're still facing the same complation error, and you're actually using Tomcat 10 or newer, then you should be migrating the imports in your source code from javax.* to jakarta.*.

import jakarta.servlet.*;
import jakarta.servlet.http.*;

See also:

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