Return of 'null'

Reports return statements with null return values. While occasionally useful, this construct may make the code more prone to failing with a NullPointerException.

If a method is designed to return null, it is suggested to mark it with the @Nullable annotation - such methods will be ignored by this inspection.

Example:

class Person {
public String getName () {
return null;
}
}

After the quick-fix is applied:

class Person {
@Nullable
public String getName () {
return null;
}
}

If the return type is java.util.Optional, an additional quick-fix to convert null to Optional.empty() is suggested.

Use the following options to configure the inspection:

Whether to ignore private methods. This will also ignore return of null from anonymous classes and lambdas.
Whether null values on array returns, collection object returns, plain object returns, or a combination of the three should be reported. Return of null in methods with return type java.util.Optional are always reported.
Click Configure annotations to specify which annotations should be considered 'nullable'.

Inspection options

Option	Type	Default
Ignore 'private' methods, anonymous classes & lambda's	Checkbox	false
Report methods that return arrays	Checkbox	true
Report methods that return collection objects	Checkbox	true
Report methods that return objects	Checkbox	true
	Custom	None

Inspection Details
Available in:	IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3, Qodana for JVM 2023.3
Plugin:	Java, 233.SNAPSHOT

Last modified: 13 July 2023