Skip to content

for-of loop with intersection of array types produces a union of element types #39693

Open

Description

TypeScript Version: 3.9.2, 4.0.0-beta

Search Terms: intersection, for-of, union, iterable, iterator, iterate, array

Expected behavior:
When you use a for..of loop to iterate over the elements of an intersection of arrays (or maybe other iterables), what type should the elements be? I would expect either:

  • you get the same type as when you index into the array: an intersection of the element types; or
  • you get the same type as when you use the iterator method manually: the first element type because the iterator methods are overloads.

Actual behavior:
Iterating over an intersection of arrays with a for..of loop produces a union of their element types for some reason.

Related Issues:
#11961: intersection of array types results in overloaded methods (this would maybe imply overloaded iterators, but that's not happening here)

Aside:
I'm not sure why you'd want an intersection of array types in the first place; but the behavior showed up in a Stack Overflow question and I'm at a loss understanding why we get a union here.

Code

declare const arr: Array<{ a: string }> & Array<{ b: number }>;

for (const elemItr of arr) {
  // { a: string } | {b : number } 😕
  elemItr.a.toUpperCase(); // error!
  elemItr.b.toFixed(); // error!
}

// I expected either this (intersection of element types)
const elemIdx = arr[0]; // { a: string; } & { b: number; }
elemIdx.a.toUpperCase(); // okay
elemIdx.b.toFixed(); // okay

// or this (overloaded iterators giving the first element type only)
const iter = arr[Symbol.iterator];
/* const iter: {
    (): IterableIterator<{ a: string }>;
    (): IterableIterator<{ a: string }>;
} & {
    (): IterableIterator<{ b: number }>;
    (): IterableIterator<{ b: number }>;
} */
const result = arr[Symbol.iterator]().next();
if (!result.done) {
  result.value.a.toUpperCase(); // okay
  result.value.b.toFixed(); // error, expected this 
}
Output
"use strict";
for (const elemItr of arr) {
    // { a: string } | {b : number } 😕
    elemItr.a.toUpperCase(); // error!
    elemItr.b.toFixed(); // error!
}
// I expected either this (intersection of element types)
const elemIdx = arr[0]; // { a: string; } & { b: number; }
elemIdx.a.toUpperCase(); // okay
elemIdx.b.toFixed(); // okay
// or this (overloaded iterators giving the first element type only)
const iter = arr[Symbol.iterator];
/* const iter: {
    (): IterableIterator<{ a: string }>;
    (): IterableIterator<{ a: string }>;
} & {
    (): IterableIterator<{ b: number }>;
    (): IterableIterator<{ b: number }>;
} */
const result = arr[Symbol.iterator]().next();
if (!result.done) {
    result.value.a.toUpperCase(); // okay
    result.value.b.toFixed(); // error, expected this 
}
Compiler Options
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "strictFunctionTypes": true,
    "strictPropertyInitialization": true,
    "strictBindCallApply": true,
    "noImplicitThis": true,
    "noImplicitReturns": true,
    "useDefineForClassFields": false,
    "alwaysStrict": true,
    "allowUnreachableCode": false,
    "allowUnusedLabels": false,
    "downlevelIteration": false,
    "noEmitHelpers": false,
    "noLib": false,
    "noStrictGenericChecks": false,
    "noUnusedLocals": false,
    "noUnusedParameters": false,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "preserveConstEnums": false,
    "removeComments": false,
    "skipLibCheck": false,
    "checkJs": false,
    "allowJs": false,
    "declaration": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": false,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": false,
    "target": "ES2017",
    "module": "ESNext"
  }
}

Playground Link: Provided

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    Fix AvailableA PR has been opened for this issueIn DiscussionNot yet reached consensusSuggestionAn idea for TypeScript

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions