Comment by reissbaker
Comment by reissbaker 4 hours ago
The satisfies keyword is quite different than "as const." What it does is:
1. Enforce that a value adheres to a specific type
2. But, doesn't cause the value to be cast to that type.
For example, if you have a Rect type like:
type Rect = { w: number, h: number }
You might want to enforce that some value satisfies Rect properties... But also allow it to have others. For example: const a = { x: 0, y: 0, w: 5, h: 5 };
If you wrote it as: const a: Rect = // ...
TypeScript wouldn't allow you to also give it x and y properties. And if you did: as Rect
at the end of the line, TypeScript would allow the x, y properties, but would immediately lose track of them and not allow you to use them later, because you cast it to the Rect type which lacks those properties. You could write an extra utility type: type Location = { x: number, y: number };
const a: Location & Rect = // ...
But that can get quite verbose as you add more fields. And besides: in this example, all we actually are trying to enforce is that the object is a Rect — why do we also have to enforce other things at the same time? Usually TS allows type inference for fields, but here, as soon as you start trying to enforce one kind of shape, suddenly type inference breaks for every other field.The satisfies keyword does what you want in this case: it enforces the object conforms to the type, without casting it to the type.
const a = { x: 0, y: 0, w: 5, h: 5 } satisfies Rect;
// a.x works
Then if someone edits the code to: const a = { x: 0, y: 0, width: 5, height: 5 } satisfies Rect;
TypeScript will throw an error, since it no longer satisfies the Rect type (which wants h and w, not height and width).
Why is satisfies needed at all, when can't. Typescript realize that `a` satisfies `Rect` automatically?