Skip to content

Document typed dictionaries in GDScript #10747

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
wants to merge 1 commit into
base: master
Choose a base branch
from
Open
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
27 changes: 27 additions & 0 deletions tutorials/scripting/gdscript/gdscript_basics.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -979,6 +979,33 @@ assign to it::
this, use the :ref:`Object.get() <class_Object_method_get>` and
:ref:`Object.set() <class_Object_method_set>` methods instead.

Typed dictionaries
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Godot 4.4 added support for typed dictionaries. On write operations, Godot checks that
element keys and values match the specified type, so the dictionary cannot contain invalid
keys or values. The GDScript static analyzer takes typed dictionaries into account. However,
dictionary methods that return values still have the ``Variant`` return type.

Typed dictionaries have the syntax ``Array[KeyType, ValueType]``, where ``KeyType`` and ``ValueType``
Copy link
Contributor

@idbrii idbrii Mar 10, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Based on the other files it looks like Array is a typo here. Should it be:

Typed dictionaries have the syntax ``Dictionary[KeyType, ValueType]``

can be any ``Variant`` type, native or user class, or enum. Both the key and value type **must** be specified,
but you can use ``Variant`` to make either of them untyped.
Nested dictionary types (like ``Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]]``)
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

The error message thrown says Nested typed collections are not supported., this includes both Dictionary and Array.
It could be misunderstood as "Dictionary" as a type cant be used, instead of typed dictionary.

Suggested change
Nested dictionary types (like ``Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]]``)
Nested typed collections (like ``Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]]``)

The wording in the typed array section should probably be updated, too.
same with static_typing.rst line 242

are not supported.

::

var a: Dictionary[String, int]
var b: Dictionary[String, Node]
var c: Dictionary[Vector2i, MyClass]
var d: Dictionary[MyEnum, float]
# String keys, values can be any type.
var e: Dictionary[String, Variant]
# Keys can be any type, boolean values.
var f: Dictionary[Variant, bool]

``Dictionary`` and ``Dictionary[Variant, Variant]`` are the same thing.

:ref:`Signal <class_Signal>`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Expand Down
29 changes: 29 additions & 0 deletions tutorials/scripting/gdscript/static_typing.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -230,6 +230,35 @@ For instance, you can write::
The array will remain untyped, but the ``name`` variable within the ``for`` loop
will always be of ``String`` type.

Specify the element type of a ``Dictionary``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To define the type of a ``Dictionary``'s keys and values, enclose the type name in ``[]``
and separate the key and value type with a comma.

A dictionary's value type applies to ``for`` loop variables, as well as some operators like
``[]`` and ``[]=``. Dictionary methods that return values and other operators
(such as ``==``) are still untyped. Built-in types, native and custom classes,
and enums may be used as element types. Nested array types
Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
and enums may be used as element types. Nested array types
and enums may be used as element types. Nested dictionary types

(like ``Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]]``) are not supported.


::

var fruit_costs: Dictionary[String, int] = { "apple": 5, "orange": 10 }
var vehicles: Dictionary[String, Node] = { "car": $Car, "plane": $Plane }
var item_tiles: Dictionary[Vector2i, Item] = { Vector2i(0, 0): Item.new(), Vector2i(0, 1): Item.new() }
var dictionary_of_dictionaries: Dictionary[String, Dictionary] = { { } }
# var arrays: Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]] -- disallowed
Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
# var arrays: Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]] -- disallowed
# var dicts: Dictionary[String, Dictionary[String, int]] -- disallowed


for cost in fruit_costs:
# cost has type `int`

# The following would be errors:
fruit_costs["pear"] += vehicles
var s: String = fruit_costs["apple"]
fruit_costs["orange"] = "lots"

Type casting
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Expand Down