How to declare a type as nullable in TypeScript?

Question

I have an interface in TypeScript.

interface Employee{
    id: number;
    name: string;
    salary: number;
}

I would like to make salary as a nullable field (Like we can do in C#). Is this possible to do in TypeScript?

Answer 1

All fields in JavaScript (and in TypeScript) can have the value null or undefined.

You can make the field optional which is different from nullable.

interface Employee1 {
    name: string;
    salary: number;
}

var a: Employee1 = { name: 'Bob', salary: 40000 }; // OK
var b: Employee1 = { name: 'Bob' }; // Not OK, you must have 'salary'
var c: Employee1 = { name: 'Bob', salary: undefined }; // OK
var d: Employee1 = { name: null, salary: undefined }; // OK

// OK
class SomeEmployeeA implements Employee1 {
    public name = 'Bob';
    public salary = 40000;
}

// Not OK: Must have 'salary'
class SomeEmployeeB implements Employee1 {
    public name: string;
}

Compare with:

interface Employee2 {
    name: string;
    salary?: number;
}

var a: Employee2 = { name: 'Bob', salary: 40000 }; // OK
var b: Employee2 = { name: 'Bob' }; // OK
var c: Employee2 = { name: 'Bob', salary: undefined }; // OK
var d: Employee2 = { name: null, salary: 'bob' }; // Not OK, salary must be a number

// OK, but doesn't make too much sense
class SomeEmployeeA implements Employee2 {
    public name = 'Bob';
}