From 88b629c1214761b1a996ce1cfa6a3ffd7417c4e6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Roland Reichwein <Roland.Reichwein@bmw.de>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:52:42 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Fix expected::operator*() const& and && failing to compile
 (#1538)

ETL_ASSERT_OR_RETURN_VALUE tried to return ETL_NULLPTR from functions
returning references, which cannot be initialized from nullptr. Use
plain ETL_ASSERT instead, matching the other operator*() overloads.

Add regression test for dereferencing const and temporary expected.

Co-authored-by: John Wellbelove <jwellbelove@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 include/etl/expected.h |  4 ++--
 test/test_expected.cpp | 14 ++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/etl/expected.h b/include/etl/expected.h
index bbfc514b..1feb1487 100644
--- a/include/etl/expected.h
+++ b/include/etl/expected.h
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ namespace etl
     //*******************************************
     const value_type& operator*() const ETL_LVALUE_REF_QUALIFIER
     {
-      ETL_ASSERT_OR_RETURN_VALUE(has_value(), ETL_ERROR(expected_invalid), ETL_NULLPTR);
+      ETL_ASSERT(has_value(), ETL_ERROR(expected_invalid));
 
       return etl::get<value_type>(storage);
     }
@@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ namespace etl
     //*******************************************
     value_type&& operator*() &&
     {
-      ETL_ASSERT_OR_RETURN_VALUE(has_value(), ETL_ERROR(expected_invalid), ETL_NULLPTR);
+      ETL_ASSERT(has_value(), ETL_ERROR(expected_invalid));
 
       return etl::move(etl::get<value_type>(storage));
     }
diff --git a/test/test_expected.cpp b/test/test_expected.cpp
index 621727b2..b7bee13d 100644
--- a/test/test_expected.cpp
+++ b/test/test_expected.cpp
@@ -618,6 +618,20 @@ namespace
         etl::expected_invalid);
     }
 
+    //*************************************************************************
+    // See https://github.com/ETLCPP/etl/issues/1532
+    TEST(test_dereference_const_and_rvalue_expected)
+    {
+      typedef etl::expected<int, const char*> Expected1532;
+
+      Expected1532        e  = 42;
+      const Expected1532& ce = e;
+
+      CHECK_EQUAL(42, *e);
+      CHECK_EQUAL(42, *ce);
+      CHECK_EQUAL(42, *Expected1532(42));
+    }
+
     //*************************************************************************
     struct value_or_helper
     {