Equals Null Call
ID |
kotlin.equals_null_call |
Severity |
low |
Remediation Complexity |
trivial |
Remediation Risk |
low |
Remediation Effort |
low |
Resource |
Reliability |
Language |
Kotlin |
Tags |
npe, null-safety |
Description
Reports x.equals(null) calls, which throw NullPointerException when the receiver is null.
The idiomatic Kotlin null-check is x == null, which uses the null-safe structural equality
operator and never throws regardless of the receiver’s nullability.
Rationale
val x: String? = null
// Bad — throws NPE if x is null
if (x.equals(null)) { ... } // FLAW
// Good — null-safe structural equality
if (x == null) { ... }