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javavariablescompiler-errorslocalinitialization

Java: "Local variable may not have been initialized" not intelligent enough?

Consider the following method:

void a ()
{
    int x;
    boolean b = false;
    if (Math.random() < 0.5)
    {
        x = 0;
        b = true;
    }
    if (b)
        x++;
}

On x++ I get the "Local variable may not have been initialized" error. Clearly x will never be used uninitialized. Is there any way to suppress the warning except by initializing x? Thanks.

Solution

  • No, there is no way Java can examine all possible code paths for a program to determine if a variable has been initialized or not, so it takes the safe route and warns you.

    So no, you will have to initialize your variable to get rid of this.