Can anyone shed light on why the type inference in this particular Typescript snippet seems to be off?

Is TypeScript failing to properly infer that when we are in the third case, item.id is not null? Is my understanding flawed, or is there a bug or edge case in TypeScript?

export const Type = [
    "TypeA",
    "TypeB",
    "TypeC"
] as const
export type Type = typeof Type[number]

type Item = {
    id: string | null,
    type: Type
}

function stringFunction(some_string: string) {
    console.log(some_string)
}
function test(item: Item) {
    if (!item.id && item.type === Type[2]) return

    switch (item.type) {
        case 'TypeA':
            break;
        case 'TypeB':
            break;
        case 'TypeC':
            // By uncommenting the following line, the type is correctly inferred in the third case
            // But why is it needed ? A case analysis should suffice to know we have a non null item.id
            // if (!item.id ) return
            stringFunction(item.id)
            break;
    }
}

Playground Link

Answer №1

Check out this GitHub issue for a detailed response to your question.

While TypeScript offers support for narrowing, it is limited to specific JavaScript patterns. It works efficiently when focusing on individual variables or properties, but becomes complex when dealing with sets of variables or properties. Tracking the relationship between item.id and item.type would require extensive computations that are not feasible for the compiler. As the number of possible values increases, achieving this becomes increasingly difficult. For further insights, refer to @RyanCavanaugh's Twitter thread on incompleteness.

In scenarios like yours, consider refactoring your code so that the relevant state is contained in one variable or property. By consolidating the logic where necessary, you can avoid such complexities. If refactoring is not viable, resort to using techniques like type assertions (e.g., item.id! or item.id as string) to move forward.

To test this concept, review your example code snippet provided below:

function test(item: Item) {
    switch (item.type) {
        case 'TypeA':
            break;
        case 'TypeB':
            break;
        case 'TypeC':
            if (!item.id) return
            stringFunction(item.id)
            break;
    }
}

For realistic applications, there is usually room for optimization through refactoring. However, in cases where this is not feasible, accepting TypeScript's limitations regarding tracking such relationships may be necessary. Use the providedPlayground link to experiment with the code yourself.

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