Type inference with "or" between two lists doesn't work properly
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Description
Bug Report
When two lists whose elements have different types appear in an or expression, type inferencing doesn't work properly if the second list is a literal. If the second list is assigned to a variable first, the type inference works.
For instance, if my_str_list is a List[str] and my_int_list is a List[int], the expression my_str_list or my_int_list has inferred type Union[List[str], List[int]], while my_str_list or [1, 2, 3] has inferred type List[str] (accompanied by an error saying the elements of the literal list are the wrong type).
To Reproduce
The following file:
list_of_ints: list[int] = [1,2,3]
reveal_type(["a", "b"] or [1,2,3]) # Produces error. Revealed type is 'builtins.list[builtins.str*]'
reveal_type(["a", "b"] or 123) # Works. Revealed type is 'Union[builtins.list[builtins.str*], Literal[123]?]'
reveal_type(123 or [1,2,3]) # Works. Revealed type is 'Union[Literal[123]?, builtins.list[builtins.int*]]'
reveal_type(["a", "b"] or list_of_ints) # Works. Revealed type is 'Union[builtins.list[builtins.str*], builtins.list[builtins.int]]'
gives output
file.py:3: note: Revealed type is 'builtins.list[builtins.str*]'
file.py:3: error: List item 0 has incompatible type "int"; expected "str"
file.py:3: error: List item 1 has incompatible type "int"; expected "str"
file.py:3: error: List item 2 has incompatible type "int"; expected "str"
file.py:4: note: Revealed type is 'Union[builtins.list[builtins.str*], Literal[123]?]'
file.py:5: note: Revealed type is 'Union[Literal[123]?, builtins.list[builtins.int*]]'
file.py:6: note: Revealed type is 'Union[builtins.list[builtins.str*], builtins.list[builtins.int]]'
Found 3 errors in 1 file (checked 1 source file)
Expected Behavior
Expected no error and reveal_type(["a", "b"] or [1,2,3]) to be Union[List[str], List[int]] or even List[int] if mypy is able to determine that ["a", "b"] is a truthy value.
Actual Behavior
reveal_type(["a", "b"] or [1,2,3]) is List[str] and there is error claiming the types of the literal list are wrong.
Your Environment
- Mypy version used: 0.812
- Mypy command-line flags: None
- Mypy configuration options from
mypy.ini(and other config files): None - Python version used: 3.9.5
- Operating system and version: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7.9 (Maipo)
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Use the supplied reproduction file with mypy and no command-line flags, checking the reveal_type results for the or expressions. Trace the type-inference handling for or expressions involving list literals. Done means the two-list expression produces no element-type errors and reveals a union of the list types, or the more precise truthiness-based result described in the issue.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- devtools
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100