Use of 'clone()' or 'Cloneable'

Reports implementations of, and calls to, the clone() method and uses of the java.lang.Cloneable interface.

Some coding standards prohibit the use of clone(), and recommend using a copy constructor or a static factory method instead.

The inspection ignores calls to clone() on arrays because it's a correct and compact way to copy an array.

Example:

  class Copy implements Cloneable /*warning*/ {

    public Copy clone() /*warning*/ {
      try {
        return (Copy) super.clone(); // warning
      } catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) {
        throw new AssertionError();
      }
    }
  }

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.

UseOfClone

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 | Cloning issues

Inspection ID: UseOfClone

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 UseOfClone

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