Boolean method is always inverted

Reports methods with a boolean return type that are always negated when called.

A quick-fix is provided to invert and optionally rename the method. For performance reasons, not all problematic methods may be highlighted in the editor.

Example:

  class C {
    boolean alwaysTrue() {
      return true;
    }

    void f() {
      if (!alwaysTrue()) {
        return;
      }
    }
    boolean member = !alwaysTrue();
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  class C {
    boolean alwaysFalse() {
      return false;
    }

    void f() {
      if (alwaysFalse()) {
        return;
      }
    }
    boolean member = alwaysFalse();
  }

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.

BooleanMethodIsAlwaysInverted

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 | Data flow

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 BooleanMethodIsAlwaysInverted

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