Do not use Using the assignment operator in conditional expressions because it frequently indicates programmer error and can result in unexpected behavior. This means that the The assignment operator should not be used in the following contexts:
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In this noncompliant code example, an assignment expression is the controlling expression in an the if
statement :is an assignment expression.
Code Block | ||
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public void f(boolean a, boolean b) { if (a = b) { /* ... */ } } |
Although the programmer's intent could have been to assign b
to a
and test the value of the result, this usage frequently occurs when the programmer mistakenly used the assignment operator =
rather than the equality operator ==
.
Compliant Solution
When the assignment of b
to a
is unintended, this conditional block is now executed The conditional block shown in this compliant solution executes when a
is equal to b
:.
Code Block | ||
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public void f(boolean a, boolean b) { if (a == b) { /* ... */ } } |
Unintended assignment of b
to a
cannot occur.
Compliant Solution
When the assignment is intended, the following this compliant solution clarifies the programmer's intent:.
Code Block | ||
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public void f(boolean a, boolean b) { if ((a = b) == true) { /* ... */ } } |
Compliant Solution
Nevertheless, it It may be preferable clearer to express this same the logic as an explicit assignment followed by a conditional:the if
condition.
Code Block | ||
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public void f(boolean a, boolean b) { a = b; if (a) { /* ... */ } } |
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In this noncompliant code example, an assignment expression appears in the controlling expression as an operand of the &&
operator. Because &&
is not a comparison operator, assignment is an illegal operand.
Code Block | ||
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public void f(boolean a, boolean b, boolean flag) { while ( (a = b) && flag ) { /* ... */ } } |
Because &&
is not a comparison operator, assignment is an illegal operand. Again, this is frequently a case of the programmer mistakenly using the assignment operator =
instead of the equals operator ==
.
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When the assignment of b
to a
is unintended, this conditional block is now executed only when a
is equal to b
: and flag is true
.
Code Block | ||
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| ||
public void f(boolean a, boolean b, boolean flag) {
while ( (a == b) && flag ) {
/* ... */
}
} |
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Exceptionally, it is permitted to use the assignment operator in conditional expressions when the assignment is not the controlling expression (that is, the assignment is a subexpressionsub-expression), as shown in the following compliant example:solution.
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public void assignNocontrol(BufferedReader reader) throws IOException{ String line; while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) { // ... work with line } } |
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