The issue arises when TypeScript is unable to accurately infer the type as not being undefined following a type guard condition using

The following code snippet illustrates that in the else statement, it is evident that b cannot be undefined (a||b returns truthy and since a is falsy, b must be truthy).

Why does Typescript show the error 'b' is possibly 'undefined', and what steps can I take to prevent this issue?

function test(a: string | undefined, b: string | undefined) {
  if (a || b) {
    if (a) {
      const x = a.length
    } else {
      const y = b.length
    }
  }
}

Answer №1

To troubleshoot this issue, you can follow the steps below:

function test(x: string | undefined, y: string | undefined) {
  type X1 = typeof x; // string | undefined
  type Y1 = typeof y; // string | undefined
  if (x || y) {
    type X2 = typeof x; // string | undefined
    type Y2 = typeof y; // string | undefined
    if (x) {
      type X3 = typeof x; // string
      type Y3 = typeof y; // string | undefined
      const a = x.length
    } else {
      type X4 = typeof x; // string | undefined
      type Y4 = typeof y; // string | undefined
      const b = y.length
    }
  }
}

In essence, (x || y) is unable to narrow down the types.

The conditional flow analysis checks for !== undefined and !== null conditions (a documented limitation of TS), so it's recommended to rewrite it like this:

function test(a: string | undefined, b: string | undefined) {
  if (a !== undefined ) {
    const aLength = a.length; // number
  } else if(b !== undefined){
    const bLength = b.length; // number
  }
}

Answer №2

Both x and y are declared as number | undefined in Typescript, indicating that they can either have a number value or be undefined. If you are confident that the function will always receive a value, you can use the ! (non-null assertion operator) to access their properties without checking for null or undefined.

const result = x!.toFixed(2);

To learn more about the non-null assertion operator, check out: non-null assertion operator

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