Why is this an issue?

Declaring a variable only to immediately return or throw it is considered a bad practice because it adds unnecessary complexity to the code. This practice can make the code harder to read and understand, as it introduces an extra step that doesn’t add any value. Instead of declaring a variable and then immediately returning or throwing it, it is generally better to return or throw the value directly. This makes the code cleaner, simpler, and easier to understand.

How to fix it

Declaring a variable only to immediately return or throw it is considered a bad practice because it adds unnecessary complexity to the code. To fix the issue, return or throw the value directly.

Code examples

Noncompliant code example

public long computeDurationInMilliseconds() {
  long duration = (((hours * 60) + minutes) * 60 + seconds) * 1000;
  return duration;
}

Compliant solution

public long computeDurationInMilliseconds() {
  return (((hours * 60) + minutes) * 60 + seconds) * 1000;
}

Noncompliant code example

public void doSomething() {
  RuntimeException myException = new RuntimeException();
  throw myException;
}

Compliant solution

public void doSomething() {
  throw new RuntimeException();
}