dart-lang / dart-lang/language
Null-aware return doesn't promote variable
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- TeX
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Description
Consider this code:
```dart
final lastTransaction = transactions.lastOrNull;
if (lastTransaction?.expirationDate == null) {
return false;
}
final expirationDate = DateTime.tryParse(lastTransaction!.expirationDate!);
```
If I remove the `!`, I get an analyser error saying I can't use `lastTransaction` because it can be `null`. I believe the analyser should be able to conclude that `lastTransaction` can't be `null`, because it's a final local variable, and the `?.` in the `if` check would ensure there's no valid code path for it to still be `null`.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reproducing the reported Dart snippet and checking the analyzer's null-safety promotion behavior after the null-aware condition. Read the language's rules for local-variable promotion and null-aware access; done means the analyzer consistently accepts using lastTransaction and expirationDate without the non-null assertions, with coverage for this example.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- dart
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100