Avoid smart cast hint in null checks

Question

Is there anyway I can avoid the smart cast hint after the if in the example bellow?

fun foo(): Any {
val xpto = bar()
if(xpto == null) {
// do something fast and return
}

// do alot of stuff with xpto and return
}

fun bar(): Any?

Answer 1

To avoid the smart cast hint, you can explicitly cast the result of bar() to Any before the if statement, like this:

fun foo(): Any {
val xpto: Any = bar() ?: return // do something fast and return

// do a lot of stuff with xpto and return
}

fun bar(): Any?

Alternatively, you can also use an if expression, like this:

fun foo(): Any {
return bar() ?: return // do something fast and return
// do a lot of stuff with bar() and return
}

fun bar(): Any?
By using either of these techniques, you can avoid the smart cast hint and also simplify your code.