'for' loop may be replaced by 'while' loop

Reports a for loop that contains neither initialization nor an update component. Suggests replacing the loop with a simpler while statement.

Example:

  for(; exitCondition(); ) {
    process();
  }

After the quick-fix is applied the result looks like:

  while(exitCondition()) {
    process();
  }

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.

ForLoopReplaceableByWhile

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 | JavaScript and TypeScript | Control flow issues

Use the checkbox below if you wish this inspection to ignore for loops with trivial or non-existent conditions.

Inspection ID: ForLoopReplaceableByWhileJS

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the 'for' loop may be replaced by 'while' loop inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Ignore 'infinite' for loops without conditions

Option ID:

m_ignoreLoopsWithoutConditions

Default value:

Not 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 ForLoopReplaceableByWhile

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

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	CLion 2025.2, GoLand 2025.2, IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2, JetBrains Rider 2025.2, PhpStorm 2025.2, PyCharm 2025.2, Qodana for .NET 2025.2, Qodana for Go 2025.2, Qodana for JS 2025.2, Qodana for JVM 2025.2, Qodana for PHP 2025.2, Qodana for Ruby 2025.2, RubyMine 2025.2, WebStorm 2025.2

Last modified: 18 September 2025