prefer-immediate-return

v1.6.0

style

has auto-fix

free+

Warns when a method or a function returns a variable declared right before the return statement.

Declaring a local variable only to immediately return it can be considered bad practice. The name of a declaration with its return type should give enough information about what it returns.

Example

❌ Bad:

void calculateSum(int a, int b) {
    final sum = a + b;
    // LINT: Prefer returning the result immediately instead of declaring an intermediate variable right before the return statement.
    return sum;
}

void calculateArea(int width, int height) {
    final result = width * height;
    // LINT: Prefer returning the result immediately instead of declaring an intermediate variable right before the return statement.
    return result;
}

✅ Good:

void calculateSum(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
}

void calculateArea(int width, int height) => width * height;

Related Rules

• newline-before-return
• prefer-early-return
• avoid-unnecessary-return