Pointless boolean expression

Reports unnecessary or overly complicated boolean expressions.

Such expressions include &&-ing with true, ||-ing with false, equality comparison with a boolean literal, or negation of a boolean literal. Such expressions can be simplified.

Example:

  boolean a = !(x && false);
  boolean b = false || x;
  boolean c = x != true;

After the quick-fix is applied:

  boolean a = true;
  boolean b = x;
  boolean c = !x;

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.

PointlessBooleanExpression

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 | Control flow issues

Configure the inspection:

Use the Ignore named constants in determining pointless expressions option to ignore named constants when determining if an expression is pointless.

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Pointless boolean expression inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Ignore named constants in determining pointless expressions: Default: Selected

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2024.3, Qodana for JVM 2024.3,
Can be installed with plugin:	Java, 243.26483

01 April 2025