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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-17T18:50:03+00:00

From time to time I have to add a new value to a enum

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From time to time I have to add a new value to a enum type in my project.

public enum Day {
  SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, 
   FILENOTFOUND //this one is new one
}

What I would like is to have a compile time error for every switch I have that is not treating the new value, like this one:

switch (color) {
        case MONDAY: 
        case TUESDAY: 
        case WEDNESDAY: 
        case THURSDAY: 
                    System.out.println("Mondays are bad.");
                     break;

        case FRIDAY: System.out.println("Fridays are better.");
                     break;

        case SATURDAY:
        case SUNDAY: System.out.println("Weekends are best.");
                     break;
    }

Having a default: that throws some exception is not good enough, I would like it to be compile time.

I don’t think this is possible but maybe someone has a neat trick…

I thought Findbugs would have a rule to find those but I only saw this:
Eq: Covariant equals() method defined for enum (EQ_DONT_DEFINE_EQUALS_FOR_ENUM)

EDIT: I’m choosing Mark’s reply, I do use Eclipse and that sounds just like what I needed! I am not an expert in findbugs at all so I might have missed such functionality, though I don’t think so.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Eclipse has a compile-time warning/error you can enable: Enum constant not covered on “switch”.

    From your Project properties (or general preferences), go to Java Compiler->Errors/Warnings , check Enable project specific settings. You’ll find the warning under Potential programming problems. It’s set to Ignore by default but you can bump it up to Warning or Error.

    Edit: I thought this goes without saying but I suppose I’ll say it anyway: this is only applicable if you’re developing in Eclipse or using it for your build management. Obviously a Findbugs or similar equivalent would be the “real” answer since it transcends the IDE and can be integrated into the build process.

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