# How to display and compare enum values in Thymeleaf
By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Jan 24, 2020, updated Nov 5, 2022. Topics: Thymeleaf.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/thymeleaf-enum-example
> A quick article to learn how to display and compare enum values in Thymeleaf.
[Thymeleaf](https://attacomsian.com/blog/spring-boot-thymeleaf-example) is a popular server-side template engine for Java-based web and standalone environments. In this article, you'll learn how to use `enum` constant values in Thymeleaf templates.
We'll first look at how to display all enum values in a drop-down list and then how to compare enum constants in Thymeleaf. Let us say we have the following enum class named `Topic.java` that represents several blog topics:
Topic.java
```java
package com.attacomsian.runner.domains.constants;
public enum Topic {
TECH,
DESIGN,
STARTUP,
WEB,
DEVTOOLS;
}
```
We have another model class called `Post.java` that stores a reference to the enum class to present the post topic:
Post.java
```java
package com.attacomsian.runner.domains;
import com.attacomsian.runner.domains.constants.Topic;
import java.io.Serializable;
public class Post implements Serializable {
private int id;
private String title;
private String body;
private Topic topic;
// constructor, getters, and setters removed for brevity
}
```
Finally, we have the following controller method that handles all **GET** requests at the `/` endpoint and returns a new `Post` object stored in `Model`:
```java
@GetMapping("/")
public String homePage(Model model) {
// add a new post object
model.addAttribute("post", new Post());
return "index";
}
```
## How to display all enum constants
Let us now create an `index.html` Thymeleaf template in the `src/main/resources/templates/` folder that renders an HTML form to allow users to create a new post as shown below:
index.html
```markup
Spring Boot Enum Example
Create New Post
```
As you can see above, we are generating a drop-down list with all topics available to select. The `Topic` enum class provides the `values()` method that returns all enum constants as an array.
The `T` operator is a part of SpEL (Spring Expression Language) for accessing a type and invoking static methods or getting static properties. We used it for accessing all the values from our enum class `Topic`.
Now, if you run the application, you will see the following **HTML form rendered** in the browser:
## How to compare enum constants
You can easily compare enum constants using [Thymeleaf conditionals](https://attacomsian.com/blog/thymeleaf-conditions) to control what you want to display to the visitor.
### Using the` th:if` attribute
The following example demonstrates how you can use the Thymeleaf `th:if` conditional attribute to conditionally display a text:
```markup
Hey, I am a web developer!
```
Alternatively, you can also use **string literal** for comparison, as shown below:
```markup
Hey, I am a web developer!
```
### Using the `th:switch` attribute
Another way to compare enum constants in Thymeleaf is by using the `th:switch` attribute, as shown below:
```markup
- Technology Tutorials- Design Tutorials- Web Development Tutorials- Startups Tutorials- Development Tools Tutorials
```
Notice the [local variable](https://attacomsian.com/blog/thymeleaf-local-variables) `Topic` we have declared above. So instead of writing the `T()` expression for every case, we only defined it once and then used the local variable everywhere.
## Conclusion
That's all. In this article, we have learned how to use Java enum constants in Thymeleaf to render a drop-down list and compare them using conditionals to display additional texts.
**Read Next:** [How to use Thymeleaf in Spring Boot](https://attacomsian.com/blog/spring-boot-thymeleaf-example)