bpo-46480: add typing.assert_type (GH-30843)

Co-authored-by: Alex Waygood <Alex.Waygood@Gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: David Foster <david@dafoster.net>

Doc/library/typing.rst

@@ -2148,6 +2148,31 @@ Functions and decorators
    runtime we intentionally don't check anything (we want this
    to be as fast as possible).
 
+.. function:: assert_type(val, typ, /)
+
+   Assert (to the type checker) that *val* has an inferred type of *typ*.
+
+   When the type checker encounters a call to ``assert_type()``, it
+   emits an error if the value is not of the specified type::
+
+       def greet(name: str) -> None:
+           assert_type(name, str)  # OK, inferred type of `name` is `str`
+           assert_type(name, int)  # type checker error
+
+   At runtime this returns the first argument unchanged with no side effects.
+
+   This function is useful for ensuring the type checker's understanding of a
+   script is in line with the developer's intentions::
+
+       def complex_function(arg: object):
+           # Do some complex type-narrowing logic,
+           # after which we hope the inferred type will be `int`
+           ...
+           # Test whether the type checker correctly understands our function
+           assert_type(arg, int)
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.11
+
 .. function:: assert_never(arg, /)
 
    Assert to the type checker that a line of code is unreachable.

Lib/test/test_typing.py

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 from typing import Tuple, List, Dict, MutableMapping
 from typing import Callable
 from typing import Generic, ClassVar, Final, final, Protocol
-from typing import cast, runtime_checkable
+from typing import assert_type, cast, runtime_checkable
 from typing import get_type_hints
 from typing import get_origin, get_args
 from typing import is_typeddict
@@ -3302,6 +3302,22 @@ def test_errors(self):
         cast('hello', 42)
 
 
+class AssertTypeTests(BaseTestCase):
+
+    def test_basics(self):
+        arg = 42
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, int), arg)
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, str | float), arg)
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, AnyStr), arg)
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, None), arg)
+
+    def test_errors(self):
+        # Bogus calls are not expected to fail.
+        arg = 42
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, 42), arg)
+        self.assertIs(assert_type(arg, 'hello'), arg)
+
+
 # We need this to make sure that `@no_type_check` respects `__module__` attr:
 from test import ann_module8
 

Lib/typing.py

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ def _idfunc(_, x):
 
     # One-off things.
     'AnyStr',
+    'assert_type',
     'assert_never',
     'cast',
     'final',
@@ -2093,6 +2094,22 @@ def cast(typ, val):
     return val
 
 
+def assert_type(val, typ, /):
+    """Assert (to the type checker) that the value is of the given type.
+
+    When the type checker encounters a call to assert_type(), it
+    emits an error if the value is not of the specified type::
+
+        def greet(name: str) -> None:
+            assert_type(name, str)  # ok
+            assert_type(name, int)  # type checker error
+
+    At runtime this returns the first argument unchanged and otherwise
+    does nothing.
+    """
+    return val
+
+
 _allowed_types = (types.FunctionType, types.BuiltinFunctionType,
                   types.MethodType, types.ModuleType,
                   WrapperDescriptorType, MethodWrapperType, MethodDescriptorType)

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-01-23-16-33-07.bpo-46480.E4jHlh.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add :func:`typing.assert_type`. Patch by Jelle Zijlstra.