Declare an Array of Booleans in TypeScript

Declare an Array of Booleans in TypeScript #

To declare an array of booleans in TypeScript, set the type of the array to boolean[], e.g. const arr: boolean[] = []. If you try to add a value of any other type to the array, the type checker would show an error.

Copied!
// ✅ Array of booleans with inline declaration
const arr: boolean[] = [true, false, true];

// ✅ Empty array of booleans
const arr2: boolean[] = [];

// ✅ Using a type
type BooleanArray = boolean[];

const arr3: BooleanArray = [true, false, true];

The first example shows to how declare an array of booleans with an inline type.

If you try to add a value of any other type to the array, you'd get an error.

Copied!
const arr: boolean[] = [true, false, true];

// ⛔️ Error: Argument of type 'string' is not
// assignable to parameter of type 'boolean'.ts(2345)
arr.push('hello');

This approach is very useful when you have to initialize the array as empty. If you don't explicitly type an empty array, TypeScript assumes its type to be any[].

Copied!
// 👇️ const arr: any[]
const arr = [];

TypeScript has no idea what type of values we'll add to the array, so it uses the very broad any type.

You should always explicitly set the type of empty arrays.

Copied!
const arr: boolean[] = [];

// ✅ Works
arr.push(true);

// ⛔️ Error: Argument of type 'string' is
// not assignable to parameter of type 'boolean'.ts(2345)
arr.push('hello');

On the other hand, if you initialize the array with values, you can let TypeScript infer its type.

Copied!
// 👇️ const arr: boolean[]
const arr = [true, false, true];

You could also use a type to define an array of strings.

Copied!
type BooleanArray = boolean[];

const arr3: BooleanArray = [true, false, true];

If you have an object with a property that is a boolean array, you can also use an interface.

Copied!
interface Example {
  bools: boolean[];
}

const arr3: Example = {
  bools: [true, true, false],
};

In some cases, you might know that the array will only have N elements of specific type. You could use a tuple in this scenario.

Copied!
const arr: [boolean, boolean] = [true, false];

The arr variable we declared above is a tuple containing 2 booleans.

If you need to declare a readonly array of booleans, use the Readonly utility type.

Copied!
const arr: Readonly<boolean[]> = [true, false];

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'push' does not exist on
// type 'readonly boolean[]'.ts(2339)
arr.push(false);

We passed the boolean[] type to the Readonly utility type, so the array can only be read, but cannot be changed.

There is also a more specific ReadonlyArray utility type that achieves the same result.

Copied!
const arr: ReadonlyArray<boolean> = [true, false];

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'push' does not exist on
// type 'readonly boolean[]'.ts(2339)
arr.push(false);

Notice that we passed boolean instead of boolean[] to the ReadonlyArray utility type.