'instanceof' on 'catch' parameter

Reports cases in which an instanceof expression is used for testing the type of a parameter in a catch block.

Testing the type of catch parameters is usually better done by having separate catch blocks instead of using instanceof.

Example:

  void foo(Runnable runnable) {
    try {
        runnable.run();
    } catch (Throwable throwable) {
        if (throwable instanceof NoClassDefFoundError) { // warning: 'instanceof' on 'catch' parameter 'throwable'
            System.out.println("Class not found!");
        }
    }
  }

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.

InstanceofCatchParameter

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.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Java | Error handling

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 InstanceofCatchParameter

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

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2, Qodana for JVM 2025.2,

Last modified: 18 September 2025