Return of 'this'

Reports methods returning this.

While such a return is valid, it is rarely necessary, and usually indicates that the method is intended to be used as part of a chain of similar method calls (for example, buffer.append("foo").append("bar").append("baz")). Such chains are frowned upon by many coding standards.

Example:

  public Builder append(String str) {
    // [...]
    return this;
  }

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.

ReturnThis

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 | Code style issues

Availability

By default bundled with: IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1, Qodana for JVM 2024.1,
Can be installed with plugin: Java, 241.18072

Last modified: 18 June 2024