JSTL ForEach Loop/ Array or List - foreach

Question

I needed to loop through items but I am also looking for a way to get the next or previous element in the items list so that as you can see below, I can check if the second item starts with the first item. Is there a way I can store the elements like in List or Array?
<c:forEach var="item" items="${entry.value.options}">
<c:set var="upper" value="${item.key }"/>
<c:choose>
<c:when test="${fn:startsWith(item, upper)}">
<c:if test="${item ne upper} }">
<ul>
<li>
<input class="parent" type="checkbox" name="criterias[${entry.key}]" value="${item.key}" />
<label>${item.value}</label>
</li>
</ul>
</c:if>
</c:when>
<c:otherwise>
<li>
<input class="child" type="checkbox" name="criterias[${entry.key}]" value="${item.key}" />
<label>${item.value}</label>
</li>
</c:otherwise>
</c:choose>
</c:forEach>
Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

You can pass to jsp a structure like List<Item> list where Item has own ArrayList and then use inner forEach. It could be easier than having flat structure.
<c:forEach var="item" items="${list}">
Access here item if needed <c:out value="${item.value}"/>
<c:forEach var="elem" items="${item}">
...
Access here elem <c:out value="${elem.value}"/>
...
</c:forEach>
</c:forEach>