Unnecessary 'default' for enum 'switch' statement

Reports enum switch statements or expression with default branches which can never be taken, because all possible values are covered by a case branch.

Such elements are redundant, especially for switch expressions, because they don't compile when all enum constants are not covered by a case branch.

The language level needs to be configured to 14 to report switch expressions.

The provided quick-fix removes default branches.

Example:

  enum E { A, B }
  int foo(E e) {
    return switch (e) {
      case A -> 1;
      case B -> 2;
      default -> 3;
    };
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  enum E { A, B }
  int foo(E e) {
    return switch (e) {
      case A -> 1;
      case B -> 2;
    };
  }

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.

UnnecessaryDefault

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 | Verbose or redundant code constructs

Use the Only report switch expressions option to report only redundant default branches in switch expressions.

Inspection ID: UnnecessaryDefault

Inspection options

Here you can find the description of settings available for the Unnecessary 'default' for enum 'switch' statement inspection, and the reference of their default values.

Only report switch expressions

Option ID:

onlyReportSwitchExpressions

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 UnnecessaryDefault

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