Abstract class without 'abstract' methods

Reports abstract classes that have no abstract methods. In most cases it does not make sense to have an abstract class without any abstract methods, and the abstract modifier can be removed from the class. If the class was declared abstract to prevent instantiation, it is often a better option to use a private constructor to prevent instantiation instead.

Example:

  abstract class Example {
    public String getName() {
      return "IntelliJ IDEA";
    }
  }

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.

AbstractClassWithoutAbstractMethods

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 | Inheritance issues

Use the option to ignore utility classes.

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Abstract class without 'abstract' methods inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Ignore utility classes: Default value:
Selected

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 AbstractClassWithoutAbstractMethods

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