Proposal: Add IsAssignable Utility Type

[Snowflyt]

I've noticed the library currently lacks a IsAssignable<T, U> utility type for checking assignment compatibility between types, which is a common task in TypeScript.

type IsAssignable<A, B> = [A] extends [B] ? true : false;

This utility works similar to type Extends<A, B> = A extends B ? true : false, but it never evaluates to never or boolean and works better with unions and intersections.

type A = IsAssignable<string, string>;
//   ^? true
type B = IsAssignable<'foo', string>;
//   ^? true
type C = IsAssignable<never, never>; // Only `never` is assignable to `never`
//   ^? true
type D = IsAssignable<1 | 2, 1>; // Union type is correctly handled
//   ^? false
type E = IsAssignable<1 & 2, never>; // Only `never` is assignable to `never`
//   ^? true
type F = IsAssignable<string & number, never>; // Only `never` is assignable to `never`
//   ^? true
type G = IsAssignable<any, {}>; // `any` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type H = IsAssignable<{}, any>; // `any` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type I = IsAssignable<any, 1>; // `any` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type J = IsAssignable<never, 1>; // `never` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type K = IsAssignable<any, never>; // Only `never` is assignable to `never`
//   ^? false
type L = IsAssignable<never, any>; // `never` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type M = IsAssignable<never, {}>; // `never` is assignable to all types
//   ^? true
type N = IsAssignable<boolean, true>; // Union type is correctly handled
//   ^? false

I'm not entirely certain if this type will work in more complex edge cases, but the scenarios listed here should cover a wide range of common cases.

[dimitropoulos]

I'd welcome a PR on this, but would you mind sharing a real-world use-case?

[jasikpark]

🤷 microsoft/TypeScript#56448

[jasikpark]

oh wait, that's not a type...

[Snowflyt]

I'd welcome a PR on this, but would you mind sharing a real-world use-case?

It is more reliable than Extends when dealing with unions. I think.

import type { ArrayIndices, IntRange } from "type-fest";
import type { Expect, ExpectFalse, Extends } from "type-testing";

type IsAssignable<A, B> = [A] extends [B] ? true : false;

const values = ['a', 'b', 'c'] as const;
type ValueIndices = ArrayIndices<typeof values>;

type Cases_using_Extends = [
  Expect<Extends<IntRange<0, 2>, ValueIndices>>,
  Expect<Extends<IntRange<0, 3>, ValueIndices>>,
  ExpectFalse<Extends<IntRange<0, 4>, ValueIndices>>, // Error: `boolean` is not assignable to `false`
];

type Cases_using_IsAssignable = [
  Expect<IsAssignable<IntRange<0, 2>, ValueIndices>>,
  Expect<IsAssignable<IntRange<0, 3>, ValueIndices>>,
  ExpectFalse<IsAssignable<IntRange<0, 4>, ValueIndices>>, // OK
]

Try it on TS Playground.

It also avoids some of the strange behavior of Extends on never, making it a more intuitive and safer utility than Extends in most cases.