'List.remove()' called in loop

Reports List.remove(index) called in a loop that can be replaced with List.subList().clear().

The replacement is more efficient for most List implementations when many elements are deleted.

Example:

  void removeRange(List<String> list, int from, int to) {
    for (int i = from; i < to; i++) {
        list.remove(from);
    }
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  void removeRange(List<String> list, int from, int to) {
    if (to > from) {
      list.subList(from, to).clear();
    }
  }

The quick-fix adds a range check automatically to prevent a possible IndexOutOfBoundsException when the minimal value is bigger than the maximal value. It can be removed if such a situation is impossible in your code.

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.

ListRemoveInLoop

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 | Performance

New in 2018.2

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 ListRemoveInLoop

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