Spring @Value empty list as default

Question

Is there a way to set an empty list as default value for a property in Spring, something like:

@Value("${my.list.of.strings :" + new ArrayList<>() + "}")
private List<String> myList;

Obviously not new ArrayList, but I need an empty list there instead.

Answer 1

After taking a look at SpEL specification and combined with @javaguy's answer I came up with this:

@Value("${my.list.of.strings:}#{T(java.util.Collections).emptyList()}")
private List<String> myList;

Answer 2

Actually, in the current Spring versions works just one symbol : with an empty defaultvalue.

The full example that I'm using:

@Value("${my.custom.prop.array:}")
private List<Integer> myList;

To be sure and safer I also adding init to the List variable:

@Value("${my.custom.prop.array:}")
private List<Integer> myList = new ArrayList<>();