The as operator is another method of type casting, but it is not considered a safe cast. Check out the following example of an unsafe cast:

fun myUnsafeCast(any : Any?) {
    val s : String = any as String
    println(s)
}

fun main (args: Array<String>) {
    myUnsafetCast("Hello")
}

This code will execute successfully because a string variable is passed to this function, but the following function calls will throw a TypeCastException:

myUnsafetCast(2)
myUnsafetCast(null)

It is very important to secure our code before it crashes, so try to avoid unsafe casting. However, if it is necessary, do the following:

• Declare a nullable variable with ? to store the value
• Add a safe call with the as operator as ?

If the type casting is successful, it will return the original value. If not, it will become null. Let's take a look at the correct way to use the as operator in the following example:

fun myUnsafeCast(any : Any?){
    val s : String? = any as? String
    println(s)
}
fun main (args: Array<String>) {
    myUnsafetCast(2)
}

This time, the program will execute normally without throwing any exceptions. Instead, it will display null on the screen.