body_might_complete_normally

The body might complete normally, causing 'null' to be returned, but the return type, '{0}', is a potentially non-nullable type.

The analyzer produces this diagnostic when a method or function has a return type that's potentially non-nullable but would implicitly return null if control reached the end of the function.

The following code produces this diagnostic because the method m has an implicit return of null inserted at the end of the method, but the method is declared to not return null:

class C {
  int m(int t) {
    print(t);
  }
}

The following code produces this diagnostic because the method m has an implicit return of null inserted at the end of the method, but because the class C can be instantiated with a non-nullable type argument, the method is effectively declared to not return null:

class C<T> {
  T m(T t) {
    print(t);
  }
}

If there's a reasonable value that can be returned, then add a return statement at the end of the method:

class C<T> {
  T m(T t) {
    print(t);
    return t;
  }
}

If the method won't reach the implicit return, then add a throw at the end of the method:

class C<T> {
  T m(T t) {
    print(t);
    throw '';
  }
}

If the method intentionally returns null at the end, then add an explicit return of null at the end of the method and change the return type so that it's valid to return null:

class C<T> {
  T? m(T t) {
    print(t);
    return null;
  }
}

Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects Dart 3.8.1. Page last updated on 2025-05-08. View source or report an issue.