Unlocking the secret to accessing keys from an unidentified data type in TypeScript

The code snippet above will not compile due to an error with the email protection link.

const foo: unknown = {bar: 'baz'}

if (foo && typeof foo === 'object' && 'bar' in foo) {
  console.log(foo.bar)
}

An error message from TSC is:

Property 'bar' does not exist on type 'object'.

How can one convince tsc that foo can have keys with arbitrary names without having to explicitly cast?

For a working example, check out this playground link. https://www.typescriptlang.org/play?#code/MYewdgzgLgBAZiEAuGBXMBrMIDuYYC8MA3gEYCGATigOQUBeNAvgFAsCWcMAFAiDADIBMKAE8ADgFMQXPoQJEaIUgCtJwKDUHC6VLe3x8AlCRYwYoSCAA2kgHTWQAc16I7FSkZZMgA

Answer №1

If you encounter the type unknown, one possible solution is to cast the object foo as type any or create an interface with bar as a property.

const foo: unknown = {bar: 'baz'};

console.log((foo as any).bar);

Alternatively,

const foo: unknown = {bar: 'baz'};

interface HasBar {
   bar: string;
}

console.log((foo as HasBar).bar);

Answer №2

Explore the concept of user-defined type guards. You can determine if an element belongs to a specific type by using this method:

type Bar = {bar: string};

function isBar(element: unknown): element is Bar  {
  return (element as Bar).bar !== undefined;
}

const foo: unknown = {bar: 'baz'}
if (isBar(foo)) {
  console.log(foo.bar)
}

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