Null check can be replaced with method call

Reports null checks that can be replaced with a call to a static method from Objects or Stream.

Example:

  if (message == null) {
    application.messageStorage().save(new EmptyMessage());
  } else {
    application.messageStorage().save(message);
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  application.messageStorage()
    .save(Objects.requireNonNullElseGet(message, () -> new EmptyMessage()));

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.

ReplaceNullCheck

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.

Use the Don't warn if the replacement is longer than the original option to ignore the cases when the replacement is longer than the original code.

New in 2017.3

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Null check can be replaced with method call inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Don't warn if the replacement is longer than the original: Default value:
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 ReplaceNullCheck

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