title: How to insert a space between two variables in JSP?
body: <p>I have one line of html in a form on a JSP page like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;c:forEach var="entry" items="${set}"&gt;
      &lt;input type="checkbox" name="thing" value="${entry.key} ${entry.value}"&gt;
  &lt;/c:forEach&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, the space between the key and the value <code>${entry.key} ${entry.value}</code> is lost when the form is submitted. I've tried using a <code>\</code> before the <code></code>, in that case both the <code>\</code> and the <code></code> are still there when submitting.</p>
  
  <p>It seems that Java EL does not preserve isolated spaces, is that right? If so, is there a valid workaround?</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: This is so silly of me, many thanks to Cthulhu. But I still don't understand the behavior after adding a <code>\</code>. Why would that cause the space to show?</p>