psalm/docs/annotating_code/adding_assertions.md

Adding assertions

Psalm has three docblock annotations that allow you to specify that a function verifies facts about variables and properties:

• @psalm-assert (used when throwing an exception)
• @psalm-assert-if-true/@psalm-assert-if-false (used when returning a bool)

A list of acceptable assertions can be found here.

Examples

If you have a class that verified its input is an array of strings, you can make that clear to Psalm:

<?php
/** @psalm-assert string[] $arr */
function validateStringArray(array $arr) : void {
    foreach ($arr as $s) {
        if (!is_string($s)) {
          throw new UnexpectedValueException('Invalid value ' . gettype($s));
        }
    }
}

This enables you to call the validateStringArray function on some data and have Psalm understand that the given data must be an array of strings:

<?php
function takesString(string $s) : void {}
function takesInt(int $s) : void {}

function takesArray(array $arr) : void {
    takesInt($arr[0]); // this is fine

    validateStringArray($arr);

    takesInt($arr[0]); // this is an error

    foreach ($arr as $a) {
        takesString($a); // this is fine
    }
}

Similarly, @psalm-assert-if-true and @psalm-assert-if-false will filter input if the function/method returns true and false respectively:

<?php
class A {
    public function isValid() : bool {
        return (bool) rand(0, 1);
    }
}
class B extends A {
    public function bar() : void {}
}

/**
 * @psalm-assert-if-true B $a
 */
function isValidB(A $a) : bool {
    return $a instanceof B && $a->isValid();
}

/**
 * @psalm-assert-if-false B $a
 */
function isInvalidB(A $a) : bool {
    return !$a instanceof B || !$a->isValid();
}

function takesA(A $a) : void {
    if (isValidB($a)) {
        $a->bar();
    }

    if (isInvalidB($a)) {
        // do something
    } else {
        $a->bar();
    }

    $a->bar(); //error
}

As well as getting Psalm to understand that the given data must be a certain type, you can also show that a variable must be not null:

<?php
/**
 * @psalm-assert !null $value
 */
function assertNotNull($value): void {
  // Some check that will mean the method will only complete if $value is not null.
}

And you can check on null values:

<?php
/**
 * @psalm-assert-if-true null $value
 */
function isNull($value): bool {
  return ($value === null);
}

Asserting return values of methods

You can also use the @psalm-assert-if-true and @psalm-assert-if-false annotations to assert return values of methods inside classes. As you can see, Psalm even allows you to specify multiple annotations in the same DocBlock:

<?php
class Result {
    /**
     * @var ?Exception
     */
    private $exception;

    /**
     * @psalm-assert-if-true Exception $this->exception
     * @psalm-assert-if-true Exception $this->getException()
     */
    public function hasException(): bool {
        return $this->exception !== null;
    }

    public function getException(): ?Exception {
        return $this->exception;
    }

    public function foo(): void {
        if( $this->hasException() ) {
            // Psalm now knows that $this->exception is an instance of Exception
            echo $this->exception->getMessage();
        }
    }
}

$result = new Result;

if( $result->hasException() ) {
    // Psalm now knows that $result->getException() will return an instance of Exception
    echo $result->getException()->getMessage();
}

Please note that the example above only works if you enable method call memoization in the config file or annotate the class as immutable.