A simple tag can contain custom and core tags, HTML text, and tag-dependent body content between the start tag and the end tag.
In the following example, the Duke’s Bookstore application page tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/bookstore3/web/bookshowcart.jsp uses the JSTL c:if tag to print the body if the request contains a parameter named Clear:
<c:if test="${param.Clear}"> <font color="#ff0000" size="+2"><strong> You just cleared your shopping cart! </strong><br> <br></font> </c:if>
You can also explicitly specify the body of a simple tag by using the jsp:body element. If one or more attributes are specified with the jsp:attribute element, then jsp:body is the only way to specify the body of the tag. If one or more jsp:attribute elements appear in the body of a tag invocation but you don’t include a jsp:body element, the tag has an empty body.