Null- and undefined-aware types
TypeScript has two special types, Null and Undefined, that have the values null
and undefined
respectively.
Previously it was not possible to explicitly name these types, but null
and undefined
may now be used as type names regardless of type checking mode.
The type checker previously considered null
and undefined
assignable to anything.
Effectively, null
and undefined
were valid values of every type and it wasn’t possible to specifically exclude them (and therefore not possible to detect erroneous use of them).
--strictNullChecks
--strictNullChecks
switches to a new strict null checking mode.
In strict null checking mode, the null
and undefined
values are not in the domain of every type and are only assignable to themselves and any
(the one exception being that undefined
is also assignable to void
).
So, whereas T
and T | undefined
are considered synonymous in regular type checking mode (because undefined
is considered a subtype of any T
), they are different types in strict type checking mode, and only T | undefined
permits undefined
values. The same is true for the relationship of T
to T | null
.
Example
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks let x: number; let y: number | undefined; let z: number | null | undefined; x = 1; // Ok y = 1; // Ok z = 1; // Ok x = undefined; // Error y = undefined; // Ok z = undefined; // Ok x = null; // Error y = null; // Error z = null; // Ok x = y; // Error x = z; // Error y = x; // Ok y = z; // Error z = x; // Ok z = y; // Ok
Assigned-before-use checking
In strict null checking mode the compiler requires every reference to a local variable of a type that doesn’t include undefined
to be preceded by an assignment to that variable in every possible preceding code path.
Example
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks let x: number; let y: number | null; let z: number | undefined; x; // Error, reference not preceded by assignment y; // Error, reference not preceded by assignment z; // Ok x = 1; y = null; x; // Ok y; // Ok
The compiler checks that variables are definitely assigned by performing control flow based type analysis. See later for further details on this topic.
Optional parameters and properties
Optional parameters and properties automatically have undefined
added to their types, even when their type annotations don’t specifically include undefined
.
For example, the following two types are identical:
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks type T1 = (x?: number) => string; // x has type number | undefined type T2 = (x?: number | undefined) => string; // x has type number | undefined
Non-null and non-undefined type guards
A property access or a function call produces a compile-time error if the object or function is of a type that includes null
or undefined
.
However, type guards are extended to support non-null and non-undefined checks.
Example
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks declare function f(x: number): string; let x: number | null | undefined; if (x) { f(x); // Ok, type of x is number here } else { f(x); // Error, type of x is number? here } let a = x != null ? f(x) : ""; // Type of a is string let b = x && f(x); // Type of b is string | 0 | null | undefined
Non-null and non-undefined type guards may use the ==
, !=
, ===
, or !==
operator to compare to null
or undefined
, as in x != null
or x === undefined
.
The effects on subject variable types accurately reflect JavaScript semantics (e.g. double-equals operators check for both values no matter which one is specified whereas triple-equals only checks for the specified value).
Dotted names in type guards
Type guards previously only supported checking local variables and parameters. Type guards now support checking “dotted names” consisting of a variable or parameter name followed one or more property accesses.
Example
tsinterface Options { location?: { x?: number; y?: number; }; } function foo(options?: Options) { if (options && options.location && options.location.x) { const x = options.location.x; // Type of x is number } }
Type guards for dotted names also work with user defined type guard functions and the typeof
and instanceof
operators and do not depend on the --strictNullChecks
compiler option.
A type guard for a dotted name has no effect following an assignment to any part of the dotted name.
For example, a type guard for x.y.z
will have no effect following an assignment to x
, x.y
, or x.y.z
.
Expression operators
Expression operators permit operand types to include null
and/or undefined
but always produce values of non-null and non-undefined types.
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks function sum(a: number | null, b: number | null) { return a + b; // Produces value of type number }
The &&
operator adds null
and/or undefined
to the type of the right operand depending on which are present in the type of the left operand, and the ||
operator removes both null
and undefined
from the type of the left operand in the resulting union type.
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks interface Entity { name: string; } let x: Entity | null; let s = x && x.name; // s is of type string | null let y = x || { name: "test" }; // y is of type Entity
Type widening
The null
and undefined
types are not widened to any
in strict null checking mode.
tslet z = null; // Type of z is null
In regular type checking mode the inferred type of z
is any
because of widening, but in strict null checking mode the inferred type of z
is null
(and therefore, absent a type annotation, null
is the only possible value for z
).
Non-null assertion operator
A new !
post-fix expression operator may be used to assert that its operand is non-null and non-undefined in contexts where the type checker is unable to conclude that fact.
Specifically, the operation x!
produces a value of the type of x
with null
and undefined
excluded.
Similar to type assertions of the forms <T>x
and x as T
, the !
non-null assertion operator is simply removed in the emitted JavaScript code.
ts// Compiled with --strictNullChecks function validateEntity(e?: Entity) { // Throw exception if e is null or invalid entity } function processEntity(e?: Entity) { validateEntity(e); let s = e!.name; // Assert that e is non-null and access name }
Compatibility
The new features are designed such that they can be used in both strict null checking mode and regular type checking mode.
In particular, the null
and undefined
types are automatically erased from union types in regular type checking mode (because they are subtypes of all other types), and the !
non-null assertion expression operator is permitted but has no effect in regular type checking mode. Thus, declaration files that are updated to use null- and undefined-aware types can still be used in regular type checking mode for backwards compatibility.
In practical terms, strict null checking mode requires that all files in a compilation are null- and undefined-aware.
Control flow based type analysis
TypeScript 2.0 implements a control flow-based type analysis for local variables and parameters.
Previously, the type analysis performed for type guards was limited to if
statements and ?:
conditional expressions and didn’t include effects of assignments and control flow constructs such as return
and break
statements.
With TypeScript 2.0, the type checker analyses all possible flows of control in statements and expressions to produce the most specific type possible (the narrowed type) at any given location for a local variable or parameter that is declared to have a union type.
Example
tsfunction foo(x: string | number | boolean) { if (typeof x === "string") { x; // type of x is string here x = 1; x; // type of x is number here } x; // type of x is number | boolean here } function bar(x: string | number) { if (typeof x === "number") { return; } x; // type of x is string here }
Control flow based type analysis is particularly relevant in --strictNullChecks
mode because nullable types are represented using union types:
tsfunction test(x: string | null) { if (x === null) { return; } x; // type of x is string in remainder of function }
Furthermore, in --strictNullChecks
mode, control flow based type analysis includes definite assignment analysis for local variables of types that don’t permit the value undefined
.
tsfunction mumble(check: boolean) { let x: number; // Type doesn't permit undefined x; // Error, x is undefined if (check) { x = 1; x; // Ok } x; // Error, x is possibly undefined x = 2; x; // Ok }
Tagged union types
TypeScript 2.0 implements support for tagged (or discriminated) union types.
Specifically, the TS compiler now support type guards that narrow union types based on tests of a discriminant property and furthermore extend that capability to switch
statements.
Example
tsinterface Square { kind: "square"; size: number; } interface Rectangle { kind: "rectangle"; width: number; height: number; } interface Circle { kind: "circle"; radius: number; } type Shape = Square | Rectangle | Circle; function area(s: Shape) { // In the following switch statement, the type of s is narrowed in each case clause // according to the value of the discriminant property, thus allowing the other properties // of that variant to be accessed without a type assertion. switch (s.kind) { case "square": return s.size * s.size; case "rectangle": return s.width * s.height; case "circle": return Math.PI * s.radius * s.radius; } } function test1(s: Shape) { if (s.kind === "square") { s; // Square } else { s; // Rectangle | Circle } } function test2(s: Shape) { if (s.kind === "square" || s.kind === "rectangle") { return; } s; // Circle }
A discriminant property type guard is an expression of the form x.p == v
, x.p === v
, x.p != v
, or x.p !== v
, where p
and v
are a property and an expression of a string literal type or a union of string literal types.
The discriminant property type guard narrows the type of x
to those constituent types of x
that have a discriminant property p
with one of the possible values of v
.
Note that we currently only support discriminant properties of string literal types. We intend to later add support for boolean and numeric literal types.
The never
type
TypeScript 2.0 introduces a new primitive type never
.
The never
type represents the type of values that never occur.
Specifically, never
is the return type for functions that never return and never
is the type of variables under type guards that are never true.
The never
type has the following characteristics:
never
is a subtype of and assignable to every type.- No type is a subtype of or assignable to
never
(exceptnever
itself). - In a function expression or arrow function with no return type annotation, if the function has no
return
statements, or onlyreturn
statements with expressions of typenever
, and if the end point of the function is not reachable (as determined by control flow analysis), the inferred return type for the function isnever
. - In a function with an explicit
never
return type annotation, allreturn
statements (if any) must have expressions of typenever
and the end point of the function must not be reachable.
Because never
is a subtype of every type, it is always omitted from union types and it is ignored in function return type inference as long as there are other types being returned.
Some examples of functions returning never
:
ts// Function returning never must have unreachable end point function error(message: string): never { throw new Error(message); } // Inferred return type is never function fail() { return error("Something failed"); } // Function returning never must have unreachable end point function infiniteLoop(): never { while (true) { } }
Some examples of use of functions returning never
:
ts// Inferred return type is number function move1(direction: "up" | "down") { switch (direction) { case "up": return 1; case "down": return -1; } return error("Should never get here"); } // Inferred return type is number function move2(direction: "up" | "down") { return direction === "up" ? 1 : direction === "down" ? -1 : error("Should never get here"); } // Inferred return type is T function check<T>(x: T | undefined) { return x || error("Undefined value"); }
Because never
is assignable to every type, a function returning never
can be used when a callback returning a more specific type is required:
tsfunction test(cb: () => string) { let s = cb(); return s; } test(() => "hello"); test(() => fail()); test(() => { throw new Error(); })
Read-only properties and index signatures
A property or index signature can now be declared with the readonly
modifier is considered read-only.
Read-only properties may have initializers and may be assigned to in constructors within the same class declaration, but otherwise assignments to read-only properties are disallowed.
In addition, entities are implicitly read-only in several situations:
- A property declared with a
get
accessor and noset
accessor is considered read-only. - In the type of an enum object, enum members are considered read-only properties.
- In the type of a module object, exported
const
variables are considered read-only properties. - An entity declared in an
import
statement is considered read-only. - An entity accessed through an ES2015 namespace import is considered read-only (e.g.
foo.x
is read-only whenfoo
is declared asimport * as foo from "foo"
).
Example
tsinterface Point { readonly x: number; readonly y: number; } var p1: Point = { x: 10, y: 20 }; p1.x = 5; // Error, p1.x is read-only var p2 = { x: 1, y: 1 }; var p3: Point = p2; // Ok, read-only alias for p2 p3.x = 5; // Error, p3.x is read-only p2.x = 5; // Ok, but also changes p3.x because of aliasing
tsclass Foo { readonly a = 1; readonly b: string; constructor() { this.b = "hello"; // Assignment permitted in constructor } }
tslet a: Array<number> = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]; let b: ReadonlyArray<number> = a; b[5] = 5; // Error, elements are read-only b.push(5); // Error, no push method (because it mutates array) b.length = 3; // Error, length is read-only a = b; // Error, mutating methods are missing
Specifying the type of this
for functions
Following up on specifying the type of this
in a class or an interface, functions and methods can now declare the type of this
they expect.
By default the type of this
inside a function is any
.
Starting with TypeScript 2.0, you can provide an explicit this
parameter.
this
parameters are fake parameters that come first in the parameter list of a function:
tsfunction f(this: void) { // make sure `this` is unusable in this standalone function }
this
parameters in callbacks
Libraries can also use this
parameters to declare how callbacks will be invoked.
Example
tsinterface UIElement { addClickListener(onclick: (this: void, e: Event) => void): void; }
this: void
means that addClickListener
expects onclick
to be a function that does not require a this
type.
Now if you annotate calling code with this
:
tsclass Handler { info: string; onClickBad(this: Handler, e: Event) { // oops, used this here. using this callback would crash at runtime this.info = e.message; }; } let h = new Handler(); uiElement.addClickListener(h.onClickBad); // error!
--noImplicitThis
A new flag is also added in TypeScript 2.0 to flag all uses of this
in functions without an explicit type annotation.
Glob support in tsconfig.json
Glob support is here!! Glob support has been one of the most requested features.
Glob-like file patterns are supported two properties "include"
and "exclude"
.
Example
json{ "compilerOptions": { "module": "commonjs", "noImplicitAny": true, "removeComments": true, "preserveConstEnums": true, "outFile": "../../built/local/tsc.js", "sourceMap": true }, "include": [ "src/**/*" ], "exclude": [ "node_modules", "**/*.spec.ts" ] }
The supported glob wildcards are:
*
matches zero or more characters (excluding directory separators)?
matches any one character (excluding directory separators)**/
recursively matches any subdirectory
If a segment of a glob pattern includes only *
or .*
, then only files with supported extensions are included (e.g. .ts
, .tsx
, and .d.ts
by default with .js
and .jsx
if allowJs
is set to true).
If the "files"
and "include"
are both left unspecified, the compiler defaults to including all TypeScript (.ts
, .d.ts
and .tsx
) files in the containing directory and subdirectories except those excluded using the "exclude"
property. JS files (.js
and .jsx
) are also included if allowJs
is set to true.
If the "files"
or "include"
properties are specified, the compiler will instead include the union of the files included by those two properties.
Files in the directory specified using the "outDir"
compiler option are always excluded unless explicitly included via the "files"
property (even when the ”exclude
” property is specified).
Files included using "include"
can be filtered using the "exclude"
property.
However, files included explicitly using the "files"
property are always included regardless of "exclude"
.
The "exclude"
property defaults to excluding the node_modules
, bower_components
, and jspm_packages
directories when not specified.
Module resolution enhancements: BaseUrl, Path mapping, rootDirs and tracing
TypeScript 2.0 provides a set of additional module resolution knops to inform the compiler where to find declarations for a given module.
See Module Resolution documentation for more details.
Base URL
Using a baseUrl
is a common practice in applications using AMD module loaders where modules are “deployed” to a single folder at run-time.
All module imports with non-relative names are assumed to be relative to the baseUrl
.
Example
json{ "compilerOptions": { "baseUrl": "./modules" } }
Now imports to "moduleA"
would be looked up in ./modules/moduleA
tsimport A from "moduleA";
Path mapping
Sometimes modules are not directly located under baseUrl. Loaders use a mapping configuration to map module names to files at run-time, see RequireJs documentation and SystemJS documentation.
The TypeScript compiler supports the declaration of such mappings using "paths"
property in tsconfig.json
files.
Example
For instance, an import to a module "jquery"
would be translated at runtime to "node_modules/jquery/dist/jquery.slim.min.js"
.
json{ "compilerOptions": { "baseUrl": "./node_modules", "paths": { "jquery": ["jquery/dist/jquery.slim.min"] } }
Using "paths"
also allow for more sophisticated mappings including multiple fall back locations.
Consider a project configuration where only some modules are available in one location, and the rest are in another.
Virtual Directories with rootDirs
Using ‘rootDirs’, you can inform the compiler of the roots making up this “virtual” directory; and thus the compiler can resolve relative modules imports within these “virtual” directories as if were merged together in one directory.
Example
Given this project structure:
src
└── views
└── view1.ts (imports './template1')
└── view2.ts
generated
└── templates
└── views
└── template1.ts (imports './view2')
A build step will copy the files in /src/views
and /generated/templates/views
to the same directory in the output.
At run-time, a view can expect its template to exist next to it, and thus should import it using a relative name as "./template"
.
"rootDirs"
specify a list of roots whose contents are expected to merge at run-time.
So following our example, the tsconfig.json
file should look like:
json{ "compilerOptions": { "rootDirs": [ "src/views", "generated/templates/views" ] } }
Tracing module resolution
--traceResolution
offers a handy way to understand how modules have been resolved by the compiler.
shelltsc --traceResolution
Shorthand ambient module declarations
If you don’t want to take the time to write out declarations before using a new module, you can now just use a shorthand declaration to get started quickly.
declarations.d.ts
tsdeclare module "hot-new-module";
All imports from a shorthand module will have the any type.
tsimport x, {y} from "hot-new-module"; x(y);
Wildcard character in module names
Importing none-code resources using module loaders extension (e.g. AMD or SystemJS) has not been easy before; previously an ambient module declaration had to be defined for each resource.
TypeScript 2.0 supports the use of the wildcard character (*
) to declare a “family” of module names;
this way, a declaration is only required once for an extension, and not for every resource.
Example
tsdeclare module "*!text" { const content: string; export default content; } // Some do it the other way around. declare module "json!*" { const value: any; export default value; }
Now you can import things that match "*!text"
or "json!*"
.
tsimport fileContent from "./xyz.txt!text"; import data from "json!http://example.com/data.json"; console.log(data, fileContent);
Wildcard module names can be even more useful when migrating from an un-typed code base.
Combined with Shorthand ambient module declarations, a set of modules can be easily declared as any
.
Example
tsdeclare module "myLibrary/*";
All imports to any module under myLibrary
would be considered to have the type any
by the compiler;
thus, shutting down any checking on the shapes or types of these modules.
tsimport { readFile } from "myLibrary/fileSystem/readFile`; readFile(); // readFile is 'any'
Support for UMD module definitions
Some libraries are designed to be used in many module loaders, or with no module loading (global variables). These are known as UMD or Isomorphic modules. These libraries can be accessed through either an import or a global variable.
For example:
math-lib.d.ts
tsexport const isPrime(x: number): boolean; export as namespace mathLib;
The library can then be used as an import within modules:
tsimport { isPrime } from "math-lib"; isPrime(2); mathLib.isPrime(2); // ERROR: can't use the global definition from inside a module
It can also be used as a global variable, but only inside of a script. (A script is a file with no imports or exports.)
tsmathLib.isPrime(2);
Optional class properties
Optional properties and methods can now be declared in classes, similar to what is already permitted in interfaces.
Example
tsclass Bar { a: number; b?: number; f() { return 1; } g?(): number; // Body of optional method can be omitted h?() { return 2; } }
When compiled in --strictNullChecks
mode, optional properties and methods automatically have undefined
included in their type. Thus, the b
property above is of type number | undefined
and the g
method above is of type (() => number) | undefined
.
Type guards can be used to strip away the undefined
part of the type:
tsfunction test(x: Bar) { x.a; // number x.b; // number | undefined x.f; // () => number x.g; // (() => number) | undefined let f1 = x.f(); // number let g1 = x.g && x.g(); // number | undefined let g2 = x.g ? x.g() : 0; // number }
Private and Protected Constructors
A class constructor may be marked private
or protected
.
A class with private constructor cannot be instantiated outside the class body, and cannot be extended.
A class with protected constructor cannot be instantiated outside the class body, but can be extended.
Example
tsclass Singleton { private static instance: Singleton; private constructor() { } static getInstance() { if (!Singleton.instance) { Singleton.instance = new Singleton(); } return Singleton.instance; } } let e = new Singleton(); // Error: constructor of 'Singleton' is private. let v = Singleton.getInstance();
Abstract properties and accessors
An abstract class can declare abstract properties and/or accessors. Any sub class will need to declare the abstract properties or be marked as abstract. Abstract properties cannot have an initializer. Abstract accessors cannot have bodies.
Example
tsabstract class Base { abstract name: string; abstract get value(); abstract set value(v: number); } class Derived extends Base { name = "derived"; value = 1; }
Implicit index signatures
An object literal type is now assignable to a type with an index signature if all known properties in the object literal are assignable to that index signature. This makes it possible to pass a variable that was initialized with an object literal as parameter to a function that expects a map or dictionary:
tsfunction httpService(path: string, headers: { [x: string]: string }) { } const headers = { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }; httpService("", { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }); // Ok httpService("", headers); // Now ok, previously wasn't
Including built-in type declarations with --lib
Getting to ES6/ES2015 built-in API declarations were only limited to target: ES6
.
Enter --lib
; with --lib
you can specify a list of built-in API declaration groups that you can chose to include in your project.
For instance, if you expect your runtime to have support for Map
, Set
and Promise
(e.g. most evergreen browsers today), just include --lib es2015.collection,es2015.promise
.
Similarly you can exclude declarations you do not want to include in your project, e.g. DOM if you are working on a node project using --lib es5,es6
.
Here is a list of available API groups:
- dom
- webworker
- es5
- es6 / es2015
- es2015.core
- es2015.collection
- es2015.iterable
- es2015.promise
- es2015.proxy
- es2015.reflect
- es2015.generator
- es2015.symbol
- es2015.symbol.wellknown
- es2016
- es2016.array.include
- es2017
- es2017.object
- es2017.sharedmemory
- scripthost
Example
bashtsc --target es5 --lib es5,es2015.promise
json"compilerOptions": { "lib": ["es5", "es2015.promise"] }
Flag unused declarations with --noUnusedParameters
and --noUnusedLocals
TypeScript 2.0 has two new flags to help you maintain a clean code base.
--noUnusedParameters
flags any unused function or method parameters errors.
--noUnusedLocals
flags any unused local (un-exported) declaration like variables, functions, classes, imports, etc…
Also, unused private members of a class would be flagged as errors under --noUnusedLocals
.
Example
tsimport B, { readFile } from "./b"; // ^ Error: `B` declared but never used readFile(); export function write(message: string, args: string[]) { // ^^^^ Error: 'arg' declared but never used. console.log(message); }
Parameters declaration with names starting with _
are exempt from the unused parameter checking.
e.g.:
tsfunction returnNull(_a) { // OK return null; }
Module identifiers allow for .js
extension
Before TypeScript 2.0, a module identifier was always assumed to be extension-less;
for instance, given an import as import d from "./moduleA.js"
, the compiler looked up the definition of "moduleA.js"
in ./moduleA.js.ts
or ./moduleA.js.d.ts
.
This made it hard to use bundling/loading tools like SystemJS that expect URI’s in their module identifier.
With TypeScript 2.0, the compiler will look up definition of "moduleA.js"
in ./moduleA.ts
or ./moduleA.d.t
.
Support ‘target : es5’ with ‘module: es6’
Previously flagged as an invalid flag combination, target: es5
and ‘module: es6’ is now supported.
This should facilitate using ES2015-based tree shakers like rollup.
Trailing commas in function parameter and argument lists
Trailing comma in function parameter and argument lists are now allowed. This is an implementation for a Stage-3 ECMAScript proposal that emits down to valid ES3/ES5/ES6.
Example
tsfunction foo( bar: Bar, baz: Baz, // trailing commas are OK in parameter lists ) { // Implementation... } foo( bar, baz, // and in argument lists );
New --skipLibCheck
TypeScript 2.0 adds a new --skipLibCheck
compiler option that causes type checking of declaration files (files with extension .d.ts
) to be skipped.
When a program includes large declaration files, the compiler spends a lot of time type checking declarations that are already known to not contain errors, and compile times may be significantly shortened by skipping declaration file type checks.
Since declarations in one file can affect type checking in other files, some errors may not be detected when --skipLibCheck
is specified.
For example, if a non-declaration file augments a type declared in a declaration file, errors may result that are only reported when the declaration file is checked.
However, in practice such situations are rare.
Allow duplicate identifiers across declarations
This has been one common source of duplicate definition errors. Multiple declaration files defining the same members on interfaces.
TypeScript 2.0 relaxes this constraint and allows duplicate identifiers across blocks, as long as they have identical types.
Within the same block duplicate definitions are still disallowed.
Example
tsinterface Error { stack?: string; } interface Error { code?: string; path?: string; stack?: string; // OK }
New --declarationDir
--declarationDir
allows for generating declaration files in a different location than JavaScript files.