errors, fmt: add support for wrapping multiple errors

An error which implements an "Unwrap() []error" method wraps all the
non-nil errors in the returned []error.

We replace the concept of the "error chain" inspected by errors.Is
and errors.As with the "error tree". Is and As perform a pre-order,
depth-first traversal of an error's tree. As returns the first
matching result, if any.

The new errors.Join function returns an error wrapping a list of errors.

The fmt.Errorf function now supports multiple instances of the %w verb.

For golang#53435.

Change-Id: Ib7402e70b68e28af8f201d2b66bd8e87ccfb5283
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/432898
Reviewed-by: Cherry Mui <cherryyz@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Rob Pike <r@golang.org>
Run-TryBot: Damien Neil <dneil@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Joseph Tsai <joetsai@digital-static.net>

api/next/53435.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pkg errors, func Join(...error) error #53435

src/errors/errors.go

@@ -6,26 +6,29 @@
 //
 // The New function creates errors whose only content is a text message.
 //
-// The Unwrap, Is and As functions work on errors that may wrap other errors.
-// An error wraps another error if its type has the method
+// An error e wraps another error if e's type has one of the methods
 //
 //	Unwrap() error
+//	Unwrap() []error
 //
-// If e.Unwrap() returns a non-nil error w, then we say that e wraps w.
+// If e.Unwrap() returns a non-nil error w or a slice containing w,
+// then we say that e wraps w. A nil error returned from e.Unwrap()
+// indicates that e does not wrap any error. It is invalid for an
+// Unwrap method to return an []error containing a nil error value.
 //
-// Unwrap unpacks wrapped errors. If its argument's type has an
-// Unwrap method, it calls the method once. Otherwise, it returns nil.
+// An easy way to create wrapped errors is to call fmt.Errorf and apply
+// the %w verb to the error argument:
 //
-// A simple way to create wrapped errors is to call fmt.Errorf and apply the %w verb
-// to the error argument:
+//	wrapsErr := fmt.Errorf("... %w ...", ..., err, ...)
 //
-//	errors.Unwrap(fmt.Errorf("... %w ...", ..., err, ...))
+// Successive unwrapping of an error creates a tree. The Is and As
+// functions inspect an error's tree by examining first the error
+// itself followed by the tree of each of its children in turn
+// (pre-order, depth-first traversal).
 //
-// returns err.
-//
-// Is unwraps its first argument sequentially looking for an error that matches the
-// second. It reports whether it finds a match. It should be used in preference to
-// simple equality checks:
+// Is examines the tree of its first argument looking for an error that
+// matches the second. It reports whether it finds a match. It should be
+// used in preference to simple equality checks:
 //
 //	if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrExist)
 //
@@ -35,7 +38,7 @@
 //
 // because the former will succeed if err wraps fs.ErrExist.
 //
-// As unwraps its first argument sequentially looking for an error that can be
+// As examines the tree of its first argument looking for an error that can be
 // assigned to its second argument, which must be a pointer. If it succeeds, it
 // performs the assignment and returns true. Otherwise, it returns false. The form
 //

src/errors/errors_test.go

@@ -51,3 +51,21 @@ func ExampleNew_errorf() {
 	}
 	// Output: user "bimmler" (id 17) not found
 }
+
+func ExampleJoin() {
+	err1 := errors.New("err1")
+	err2 := errors.New("err2")
+	err := errors.Join(err1, err2)
+	fmt.Println(err)
+	if errors.Is(err, err1) {
+		fmt.Println("err is err1")
+	}
+	if errors.Is(err, err2) {
+		fmt.Println("err is err2")
+	}
+	// Output:
+	// err1
+	// err2
+	// err is err1
+	// err is err2
+}

src/errors/join.go

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+// Copyright 2022 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package errors
+
+// Join returns an error that wraps the given errors.
+// Any nil error values are discarded.
+// Join returns nil if errs contains no non-nil values.
+// The error formats as the concatenation of the strings obtained
+// by calling the Error method of each element of errs, with a newline
+// between each string.
+func Join(errs ...error) error {
+	n := 0
+	for _, err := range errs {
+		if err != nil {
+			n++
+		}
+	}
+	if n == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	e := &joinError{
+		errs: make([]error, 0, n),
+	}
+	for _, err := range errs {
+		if err != nil {
+			e.errs = append(e.errs, err)
+		}
+	}
+	return e
+}
+
+type joinError struct {
+	errs []error
+}
+
+func (e *joinError) Error() string {
+	var b []byte
+	for i, err := range e.errs {
+		if i > 0 {
+			b = append(b, '\n')
+		}
+		b = append(b, err.Error()...)
+	}
+	return string(b)
+}
+
+func (e *joinError) Unwrap() []error {
+	return e.errs
+}

src/errors/join_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+// Copyright 2022 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package errors_test
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestJoinReturnsNil(t *testing.T) {
+	if err := errors.Join(); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("errors.Join() = %v, want nil", err)
+	}
+	if err := errors.Join(nil); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("errors.Join(nil) = %v, want nil", err)
+	}
+	if err := errors.Join(nil, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("errors.Join(nil, nil) = %v, want nil", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestJoin(t *testing.T) {
+	err1 := errors.New("err1")
+	err2 := errors.New("err2")
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		errs []error
+		want []error
+	}{{
+		errs: []error{err1},
+		want: []error{err1},
+	}, {
+		errs: []error{err1, err2},
+		want: []error{err1, err2},
+	}, {
+		errs: []error{err1, nil, err2},
+		want: []error{err1, err2},
+	}} {
+		got := errors.Join(test.errs...).(interface{ Unwrap() []error }).Unwrap()
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, test.want) {
+			t.Errorf("Join(%v) = %v; want %v", test.errs, got, test.want)
+		}
+		if len(got) != cap(got) {
+			t.Errorf("Join(%v) returns errors with len=%v, cap=%v; want len==cap", test.errs, len(got), cap(got))
+		}
+	}
+}

src/errors/wrap.go

@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 // Unwrap returns the result of calling the Unwrap method on err, if err's
 // type contains an Unwrap method returning error.
 // Otherwise, Unwrap returns nil.
+//
+// Unwrap returns nil if the Unwrap method returns []error.
 func Unwrap(err error) error {
 	u, ok := err.(interface {
 		Unwrap() error
@@ -21,10 +23,11 @@ func Unwrap(err error) error {
 	return u.Unwrap()
 }
 
-// Is reports whether any error in err's chain matches target.
+// Is reports whether any error in err's tree matches target.
 //
-// The chain consists of err itself followed by the sequence of errors obtained by
-// repeatedly calling Unwrap.
+// The tree consists of err itself, followed by the errors obtained by repeatedly
+// calling Unwrap. When err wraps multiple errors, Is examines err followed by a
+// depth-first traversal of its children.
 //
 // An error is considered to match a target if it is equal to that target or if
 // it implements a method Is(error) bool such that Is(target) returns true.
@@ -50,20 +53,31 @@ func Is(err, target error) bool {
 		if x, ok := err.(interface{ Is(error) bool }); ok && x.Is(target) {
 			return true
 		}
-		// TODO: consider supporting target.Is(err). This would allow
-		// user-definable predicates, but also may allow for coping with sloppy
-		// APIs, thereby making it easier to get away with them.
-		if err = Unwrap(err); err == nil {
+		switch x := err.(type) {
+		case interface{ Unwrap() error }:
+			err = x.Unwrap()
+			if err == nil {
+				return false
+			}
+		case interface{ Unwrap() []error }:
+			for _, err := range x.Unwrap() {
+				if Is(err, target) {
+					return true
+				}
+			}
+			return false
+		default:
 			return false
 		}
 	}
 }
 
-// As finds the first error in err's chain that matches target, and if one is found, sets
+// As finds the first error in err's tree that matches target, and if one is found, sets
 // target to that error value and returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.
 //
-// The chain consists of err itself followed by the sequence of errors obtained by
-// repeatedly calling Unwrap.
+// The tree consists of err itself, followed by the errors obtained by repeatedly
+// calling Unwrap. When err wraps multiple errors, As examines err followed by a
+// depth-first traversal of its children.
 //
 // An error matches target if the error's concrete value is assignable to the value
 // pointed to by target, or if the error has a method As(interface{}) bool such that
@@ -76,6 +90,9 @@ func Is(err, target error) bool {
 // As panics if target is not a non-nil pointer to either a type that implements
 // error, or to any interface type.
 func As(err error, target any) bool {
+	if err == nil {
+		return false
+	}
 	if target == nil {
 		panic("errors: target cannot be nil")
 	}
@@ -88,17 +105,31 @@ func As(err error, target any) bool {
 	if targetType.Kind() != reflectlite.Interface && !targetType.Implements(errorType) {
 		panic("errors: *target must be interface or implement error")
 	}
-	for err != nil {
+	for {
 		if reflectlite.TypeOf(err).AssignableTo(targetType) {
 			val.Elem().Set(reflectlite.ValueOf(err))
 			return true
 		}
 		if x, ok := err.(interface{ As(any) bool }); ok && x.As(target) {
 			return true
 		}
-		err = Unwrap(err)
+		switch x := err.(type) {
+		case interface{ Unwrap() error }:
+			err = x.Unwrap()
+			if err == nil {
+				return false
+			}
+		case interface{ Unwrap() []error }:
+			for _, err := range x.Unwrap() {
+				if As(err, target) {
+					return true
+				}
+			}
+			return false
+		default:
+			return false
+		}
 	}
-	return false
 }
 
 var errorType = reflectlite.TypeOf((*error)(nil)).Elem()

src/errors/wrap_test.go

@@ -47,6 +47,17 @@ func TestIs(t *testing.T) {
 		{&errorUncomparable{}, &errorUncomparable{}, false},
 		{errorUncomparable{}, err1, false},
 		{&errorUncomparable{}, err1, false},
+		{multiErr{}, err1, false},
+		{multiErr{err1, err3}, err1, true},
+		{multiErr{err3, err1}, err1, true},
+		{multiErr{err1, err3}, errors.New("x"), false},
+		{multiErr{err3, errb}, errb, true},
+		{multiErr{err3, errb}, erra, true},
+		{multiErr{err3, errb}, err1, true},
+		{multiErr{errb, err3}, err1, true},
+		{multiErr{poser}, err1, true},
+		{multiErr{poser}, err3, true},
+		{multiErr{nil}, nil, false},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run("", func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -148,6 +159,41 @@ func TestAs(t *testing.T) {
 		&timeout,
 		true,
 		errF,
+	}, {
+		multiErr{},
+		&errT,
+		false,
+		nil,
+	}, {
+		multiErr{errors.New("a"), errorT{"T"}},
+		&errT,
+		true,
+		errorT{"T"},
+	}, {
+		multiErr{errorT{"T"}, errors.New("a")},
+		&errT,
+		true,
+		errorT{"T"},
+	}, {
+		multiErr{errorT{"a"}, errorT{"b"}},
+		&errT,
+		true,
+		errorT{"a"},
+	}, {
+		multiErr{multiErr{errors.New("a"), errorT{"a"}}, errorT{"b"}},
+		&errT,
+		true,
+		errorT{"a"},
+	}, {
+		multiErr{wrapped{"path error", errF}},
+		&timeout,
+		true,
+		errF,
+	}, {
+		multiErr{nil},
+		&errT,
+		false,
+		nil,
 	}}
 	for i, tc := range testCases {
 		name := fmt.Sprintf("%d:As(Errorf(..., %v), %v)", i, tc.err, tc.target)
@@ -223,9 +269,13 @@ type wrapped struct {
 }
 
 func (e wrapped) Error() string { return e.msg }
-
 func (e wrapped) Unwrap() error { return e.err }
 
+type multiErr []error
+
+func (m multiErr) Error() string   { return "multiError" }
+func (m multiErr) Unwrap() []error { return []error(m) }
+
 type errorUncomparable struct {
 	f []string
 }