microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

Make the type guarding on 'typeof' be transitive.

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Description

TypeScript Version: 2.7.0

Search Terms:
typeof + transitive + type guard + typeof same

Code

function test(a: string | number, b: string | number) {
  if (typeof a === typeof b && typeof a === 'string') return b.length
}

Expected behavior:
variable b be asserted as string type.

Actual behavior:
TS report: Property 'length' does not exist on type 'string | number'. at b.length

Playground Link:
Playground

Related Issues:

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the TypeScript 2.7 reproduction in the issue's Playground link and verify the reported error for b.length. Then locate the type-checking entry point responsible for typeof narrowing and determine what tests cover related type guards. Done means the shown function accepts b.length when both operands are narrowed to string.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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