prefer_
                  The 'if' statement could be replaced by a null-aware assignment.
Description
#
                    The analyzer produces this diagnostic when an assignment to a variable is
                    conditional based on whether the variable has the value null and the
                    ??= operator could be used instead.
                  
Example
#
                    The following code produces this diagnostic because the parameter s is
                    being compared to null in order to determine whether to assign a
                    different value:
                  
int f(String? s) {
  if (s == null) {
    s = '';
  }
  return s.length;
}
Common fixes
#Use the ??= operator instead of an explicit if statement:
int f(String? s) {
  s ??= '';
  return s.length;
}
Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects Dart 3.9.2. Page last updated on 2025-9-1. View source or report an issue.