'equals()' expression replaceable by 'Objects.equals()' expression

Reports expressions that can be replaced with a call to java.util.Objects#equals.

Example:

  void f(Object a, Object b) {
    boolean result = a != null && a.equals(b);
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  void f(Object a, Object b) {
    boolean result = Objects.equals(a, b);
  }

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.

EqualsReplaceableByObjectsCall

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.

Replacing expressions like a != null && a.equals(b) with Objects.equals(a, b) slightly changes the semantics. Use the Highlight expressions like 'a != null && a.equals(b)' option to enable or disable this behavior.

This inspection depends on the Java feature 'java.util.Objects API', which is available since Java 7.

Inspection ID: EqualsReplaceableByObjectsCall

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the 'equals()' expression replaceable by 'Objects.equals()' expression inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Highlight expressions like 'a != null && a.equals(b)'

Option ID:

checkNotNull

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 EqualsReplaceableByObjectsCall

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

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3, Qodana for JVM 2025.3,

Last modified: 03 December 2025