Same Condition

ID

swift.same_condition

Severity

low

Remediation Complexity

medium

Remediation Risk

low

Remediation Effort

medium

Resource

Code Smell

Language

Swift

Tags

code_smell, switch

Description

Reports an if / else if / else if …​ chain whose every branch tests the same subject with ==. A switch expresses the intent more clearly and — when the subject is an enum — surfaces a compile-time error if a new case is added but the chain is not updated.

if state == .idle      { ... }              // FLAW (whole chain)
else if state == .busy { ... }
else if state == .done { ... }

Rationale

if-chains are general-purpose; a reader has to parse each branch to discover that they all compare the same value. switch makes the shape explicit and lets the compiler enforce exhaustiveness for enums, catching bugs where a new case slips in unhandled.

Remediation

Rewrite as a switch:

switch state {
case .idle: ...
case .busy: ...
case .done: ...
}

When not to fire

The rule is conservative and only fires when:

  • the chain has at least one else if (two or more branches);

  • every branch has a single condition that is <subject> == <rhs>;

  • the left-hand-side text is identical across all branches.

Chains containing if let, if case, #available, !=, &&, or mixed subjects are skipped — switch would not be a clean replacement for those shapes.

References