'Comparator.min()' or 'Comparator.max()' can be used

Reports if statements and ternary expressions with Comparator.compare() calls that can be replaced with Comparator.max() or Comparator.min() calls.

Example:

Comparator<String> comp = Comparator.naturalOrder();
String result = comp.compare(a, b) > 0 ? a : b;

Comparator<String> comp = Comparator.naturalOrder();
String result = comp.max(a, b);

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

ComparatorMinMaxCanBeUsed

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

This inspection depends on the Java feature 'Comparator min/max methods', which is available since Java 26.

Inspection ID: ComparatorMinMaxCanBeUsed

New in 2026.1

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection ComparatorMinMaxCanBeUsed

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1, Qodana for JVM 2026.1,

Last modified: 31 March 2026