Specify path for object refinement

refine is the recommended way for validating related properties on an object https://github.com/vriad/zod/issues/61 Consider this schema

const validationSchema = z
  .object({
    firstName: z.string().optional(),
    lastName: z.string().optional(),
    email: z.string().email(),
    password: z.string(),
    confirmPassword: z.string(),
  })
  .refine((data) => data.password === data.confirmPassword, 'Both password and confirmation must match')

with this input data

{
  firstName: 'zod',
  lastName: '',
  email: 'theba@zod.c',
  password: 'thetetathea',
  confirmPassword: 'thethtbet',
}

we get this error

[
  {
    message: 'Both password and confirmation must match',
    path: [],
  },
]

The path is empty. Ideally, the path should contain “confirmPassword” so that the error can be easily displayed on the UI

[colinhacks]

This is the desired default behavior. The custom check is associated with the entire object schema. There’s no way for Zod to know that the error should be associated with confirmPassword in the code you provided.

Though there should be a way to support your use case. My proposal: the second argument to .refine can also accept an object, including an optional path key where you can specify the error path you’d like to be associated with the error.

Something like this:

const validationSchema = z
  .object({
    firstName: z.string().optional(),
    lastName: z.string().optional(),
    email: z.string().email(),
    password: z.string(),
    confirmPassword: z.string(),
  })
  .refine((data) => data.password === data.confirmPassword, {
    path: ['confirmPassword'],
    message: 'Both password and confirmation must match'
  })

Which results in:

validationSchema.parse({
  firstName: 'zod',
  lastName: '',
  email: 'theba@zod.c',
  password: 'thetetathea',
  confirmPassword: 'thethtbet',
});

/*
[
  {
    message: 'Both password and confirmation must match',
    path: ['confirmPassword'],
  },
]
*/

Would that work?

[colinhacks]

@rossholdway @etienne-dldc Tagging for interest.