I would just use if/else

# stdlib

[gildor]

I would just use if/else

[Mark]

Do you mean this?

val result = something()
if (result == null) {
    println("it was null")
}
return result

instead of:

return something() ?: run {
    println("it was null")
    null
}

or:

return something().alsoIfNull {
    println("it was null")
}

[gildor]

yes, exactly

[gildor]

it also a lot more future proof, you can add else to this if, or add some custom return etc

[Mark]

Good point. For that reason, would you always assign a val before returning it?

[gildor]

it depends on the case of course

[gildor]

but for this example, yep, I would just create a local variable

[gildor]

if you want to avoid local variable I would rather do this:

return something().also {
    if (it == null) {
       println("it was null")
    }
}

[gildor]

but if else is good enough

[Mark]

I like that because it’s easy to comment out and gets rid of the “what does alsoIfNull do?” question.

[Mark]

In the example assigning a local val, if you comment out the middle 3 lines then lint wants to inline.

[gildor]

no, of course, I introduce local variable if it required, not alwasy before return, what would be the point of it?