Skip to main content

prefer-immediate-return

added in: 1.6.0
style
🛠
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;
    return sum; // LINT: Prefer returning the result immediately instead of declaring an intermediate variable right before the return statement.
}

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

✅ Good:

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

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