Type named capture groups better

Search Terms

named regexp, named capture groups

Motivation

Currently named capture groups are a bit of a pain in TypeScript:

1. All names are of type string even if the regexp doesn't have that named group.
2. You need to use non-null assertion for .groups even when that is the only possibility.

Suggestion

I propose making RegExp higher order on its named capture groups so that .groups is well typed.

// Would have type: RegExp<{ year: string, month: string }>
const date = /(?<year>[0-9]{4})-(?<month>[0-9]{2})/

const match = someString.match(date)
if (match) {
  // match.groups type would be { year: string, month: string }
  // currently is undefined | { [key: string]: string }
}

// Would have type RegExp<{ year: string, month?: string }>
const optionalMonth = /(?<year>[0-9]{4})(-(?<month>[0-9]{2}))?/

Checklist

My suggestion meets these guidelines:

• [✓] This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• [✓] This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• [✓] This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• [✓] This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, etc.)
• [✓] This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals.

The issue does not name implementation files or tests. Start by reviewing how RegExp and match groups are currently typed, then determine whether named groups can be inferred as proposed; done means named and optional capture groups are represented accurately without changing emitted JavaScript.