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How are the TypeScript Partial and Required types implemented?

I find it important to know how the most-used TypeScript utility types are implemented. Here, we see the implementation of the Partial (all properties of a...

By Tim Deschryver Published October 31, 2023 #typescript

How are the TypeScript Partial and Required types implemented?

I find it important to know how the most-used TypeScript utility types are implemented. Here, we see the implementation of the Partial (all properties of a type are optional) and Required (all properties of a type are required) types. Knowing this is essential because it allows you to customize or create a new behavior for your use cases.

keyof Person generates a union of the keys of Person, so keyof Person results in "id" | "name".
[key in keyof Person] iterates over each key in that union.
Person[key] is the type of the property in Person associated with the key, so "id" is a number, and "name" is a string.
The ? modifier makes the property optional (used for the Partial type), while the -? modifier removes the optional modifier from the property, making it required (used for the Required type).


 partial.ts 
type Person = { id: number, name: string }
 
// 🪄 Use the ? modifier to make a property optional
type PersonPartial = { [key in keyof Person]?: Person[key] };
const person: PersonPartial = { name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id?: number | undefined; name?: string | undefined }
 
// 🔁 Refactor into a generic type
type GenericPartial<T> = { [key in keyof T]?: T[key] };
const person: GenericPartial<Person> = { name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id?: number | undefined; name?: string | undefined }
 
// Use the built-in Partial Type:
// Constructs a type with all properties of Type
// set to optional. This utility will return a type that represents
// all subsets of a given type.
const person: Partial<Person> = { name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id?: number | undefined, name?: string | undefined }


 required.ts 
type Person = { id?: number, name?: string }
 
// 🪄 Use the -? modifuer to make a property required
// (by removing the optional ? modifier)
type PersonRequired = { [key in keyof Person]-?: Person[key] };
const person: PersonRequired = { id: 3, name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id: number; name: string }
 
// 🔁 Refactor into a generic type
type GenericRequired<T> = { [key in keyof T]-?: T[key] };
const person: GenericRequired<Person> = { id: 3, name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id: number; name: string }
 
// Use the built-in Required Type:
// Constructs a type consisting of
// all properties of Type set to required.
const person: Required<Person> = { id: 3, name: 'Tim' }
// ^? { id: number, name: string }

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