Any

Description:When used in a type annotation or signature, matches any type. In other words, a "superset" of other types.
Annotation:any
Literal syntax:N/A - Any literal value can be assigned to an any type
Casts:N/A

Additional Language Notes

  1. A variable defined as any takes on the type of its currently assigned value. In other words, describe will never return the any type itself. See the examples below.

  2. any is commonly used to:

    • Annotate a variable that can accept any type

      Example - Declare a mutable variable that can accept any type

      let q = false

# Start by assigning a null (nothing type) to x
# to indicate that it hasn't been processed
mut x: any = null

if $q {
  $x = 'Yes'
} else {
  $x = 'No'
}

$x
# =>'No', which is a string

    • Annotate a command parameter that can accept any type

    def takes-anything [v: any] -> string {
  $v | describe
}

takes-anything 42
# => int
takes-anything foo
# => string
    • Annotate a type signature for a command that can accept any type as input or might output any type
    def passthrough [] any -> any { $in }
"Virat Kohli" | passthrough | describe
# =>string

{||} | passthrough | describe
# =>closure

  3. Annotate a list to indicate that it can hold any type

    let various = [ true false 42 'Nushell' ]
$various | describe
# =>list<any>