# 0101 — postfix `!` chained with `.field` miscompiles **RESOLVED.** A postfix optional force-unwrap chained directly with a member access — `opt!.field` — read garbage instead of the field, while the bind-first form (`v := opt!; v.field`) was correct. Sibling chains shared the bug: `opt!.method()` failed to resolve the method at all (`error: unresolved ''`), and `opt!.a.b` / `opt![i]` were affected the same way. **Symptom** — observed vs expected: ```sx #import "modules/std.sx"; S :: struct { id: string; n: i64; } mk :: () -> ?S { return S.{ id = "hello", n = 42 }; } main :: () { print("chained: {}\n", mk()!.id); // observed: garbage (e.g. 8362783136) v := mk()!; print("bind: {}\n", v.id); // observed: "hello" (correct) } ``` Expected: `mk()!.id` prints `hello` (same as the bind-first form). **Root cause** (`src/ir/expr_typer.zig`, `ExprTyper.inferType`): the AST-level type-inference switch had **no `.force_unwrap` arm**, so `mk()!` typed as `.unresolved` (the `else` fallback). `lowerForceUnwrap` lowers the unwrap to a correctly-typed value, so the *bind* form works — `v := mk()!` stores that typed Ref into a slot and `v.field` reads it back. But the *chained* form never materializes a slot: `lowerFieldAccess` re-derives the receiver type via `inferExprType(fa.object)` (= `inferExprType(mk()!)`), got `.unresolved`, and the struct-field lookup on `.unresolved` failed — `mk()!.id` was typed `.unresolved`/`i64` and its value emitted as `undef` (the print monomorphized `pack_i64` with `i64 undef`, surfacing as a stale stack address). The method chain failed for the same reason: receiver typing returned `.unresolved`, so method resolution found nothing. **Fix** (`src/ir/expr_typer.zig:92`): add a `.force_unwrap` arm to `ExprTyper.inferType` that resolves the operand's optional child type (mirrors `lowerForceUnwrap`'s `resolveOptionalInner`): ```zig .force_unwrap => |fu| blk: { const opt_ty = self.l.inferExprType(fu.operand); if (!opt_ty.isBuiltin()) { const info = self.l.module.types.get(opt_ty); if (info == .optional) break :blk info.optional.child; } break :blk .unresolved; }, ``` This is the single root cause for every chained form — field, nested field, method call, and index all route their receiver type through `inferExprType`. One arm fixes all of them. **Reproduction** (standalone, std-only): ```sx #import "modules/std.sx"; Inner :: struct { tag: string; k: i64; } S :: struct { id: string; n: i64; inner: Inner; greet :: (self: *S) -> string { return self.id; } } mk :: () -> ?S { return S.{ id = "hello", n = 42, inner = Inner.{ tag = "deep", k = 7 } }; } main :: () { print("{}\n", mk()!.id); // pre-fix: garbage; post-fix: hello print("{}\n", mk()!.n); // pre-fix: garbage; post-fix: 42 print("{}\n", mk()!.greet()); // pre-fix: error unresolved 'greet'; post-fix: hello print("{}\n", mk()!.inner.tag); // post-fix: deep } ``` **Regression**: `examples/0905-optionals-unwrap-field-chain.sx` exercises `opt!.field` (string + int field, chained vs bind-first), `opt!.method()` (pointer + value receiver), nested `opt!.a.b`, and `opt![i]`. Garbage / compile error on pre-fix code; all correct after.