From 2cb3713b7ed77087180f155e693d169b08ca4b47 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: martinfrancois <f.martin@fastmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:25:36 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Preserve comments before unwrapped else blocks

---
 .../staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturn.java | 11 +++-
 .../UnwrapElseAfterReturnTest.java            | 58 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 67 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturn.java b/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturn.java
index 322819ab7..56fc7184f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturn.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturn.java
@@ -93,10 +93,17 @@ private List<Statement> flatten(J.If tailIf, Statement tailElse, AtomicReference
                     J.Block elseBlock = (J.Block) tailElse;
                     endWhitespace.set(elseBlock.getEnd());
                     return ListUtils.concat(ifWithoutElse, ListUtils.mapFirst(elseBlock.getStatements(), elseStmt -> {
+                        List<Comment> elsePartComments = tailIf.getElsePart().getPrefix().getComments();
                         List<Comment> elseComments = elseBlock.getPrefix().getComments();
                         List<Comment> stmtComments = elseStmt.getPrefix().getComments();
-                        if (!elseComments.isEmpty() || !stmtComments.isEmpty()) {
-                            return elseStmt.withComments(ListUtils.concatAll(elseComments, stmtComments));
+                        if (!elsePartComments.isEmpty() || !elseComments.isEmpty() || !stmtComments.isEmpty()) {
+                            return elseStmt.withPrefix(elseStmt.getPrefix()
+                                    .withWhitespace(elsePartComments.isEmpty() ?
+                                            elseStmt.getPrefix().getWhitespace() :
+                                            tailIf.getElsePart().getPrefix().getWhitespace())
+                                    .withComments(ListUtils.concatAll(
+                                            elsePartComments,
+                                            ListUtils.concatAll(elseComments, stmtComments))));
                         }
                         String whitespace = tailIf.getElsePart().getPrefix().getWhitespace();
                         return elseStmt.withPrefix(elseStmt.getPrefix().withWhitespace(whitespace));
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturnTest.java b/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturnTest.java
index 909d75139..e3d88d5d3 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturnTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/staticanalysis/UnwrapElseAfterReturnTest.java
@@ -266,6 +266,64 @@ int foo(boolean condition) {
         );
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void preserveCommentBeforeElseKeyword() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          //language=java
+          java(
+            """
+              class MultilineElseTest {
+                  int foo(boolean condition) {
+                      if (condition) {
+                          return 1;
+                      }
+                      // Handle false condition
+                      else {
+                          return 2;
+                      }
+                  }
+              }
+              """,
+            """
+              class MultilineElseTest {
+                  int foo(boolean condition) {
+                      if (condition) {
+                          return 1;
+                      }
+                      // Handle false condition
+                      return 2;
+                  }
+              }
+              """
+          ),
+          //language=java
+          java(
+            """
+              class InlineElseTest {
+                  int foo(boolean condition) {
+                      if (condition) {
+                          return 1;
+                      }
+                      // Handle false condition
+                      else { return 2; }
+                  }
+              }
+              """,
+            """
+              class InlineElseTest {
+                  int foo(boolean condition) {
+                      if (condition) {
+                          return 1;
+                      }
+                      // Handle false condition
+                      return 2;
+                  }
+              }
+              """
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
     @Test
     void complexElseBlock() {
         rewriteRun(