Question

Below code checks for last item but I need to check for the second last item, I could use counters to achieve this but is there a better method ?

<c:if test="${status.last}">

Answer 1

JacobM has the right idea, but I think it is more like this.

<%@ taglib prefix="fn" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions" %>
<c:forEach var="current" varStatus="status" items="${list}">   
   <c:if test="${(fn:length(list) - 1) == status.count}" >
        The next to last item is ${current}
   </c:if> 
</c:forEach> 

or

<%@ taglib prefix="fn" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions" %>
<c:set var="nextToLast" value="${fn:length(list) - 1}" />
<c:forEach var="current" varStatus="status" items="${list}">   
   <c:if test="${nextToLast == status.count}" >
        The next to last item is ${current}
   </c:if> 
</c:forEach>