# V3154. The 'a % b' expression always evaluates to 0.

A modulo operation performed on an integer type always returns 0. This happens because its right operand is represented by the value 1 (-1), which is most likely a typo.

A common pattern of this error is checking if no remainder is left after dividing a value by 2. To do this, you use the modulo operation and compare the result with 0 or 1. Making a typo at this point is easy because since you anticipate the value 1, you may accidentally divide by 1 too. For example:

    if ((x % 1) == 1)
    {
        ....
    }

The programmer wrote the value 1 instead of 2, which will result in the 'x % 1' expression always evaluating to 0 no matter the value of 'x'. Therefore, the condition will always be false.

Fixed code:

    if ((x % 2) == 1)
    {
        ....
    }

The following example was taken from a real-life application:

    const int SyncReportFrequency = 1;
    ....
    private void TimerOnElapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (_reportId % SyncReportFrequency == 0)
        {
            WriteSyncReport();
        }
    }

The 'SyncReportFrequency ' is a constant equal to 1, so regardless of the value of the '_reportId' variable, the condition of the 'if' statement will always be true.

It is either that the developer made a typo in this code or the condition is superfluous. Fixed version:

    const int SyncReportFrequency = 2;
    ....
    private void TimerOnElapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (_reportId % SyncReportFrequency == 0)
        {
            WriteSyncReport();
        }
    }

This diagnostic is classified as:

CWE-682