Declare a Two-dimensional Array in TypeScript

Declare a Two-dimensional Array in TypeScript #

To declare a two-dimensional array, set the type of the array as Type[][], e.g. const arr: string[][] = [['one'], ['two']]. You can read the type as an array containing arrays of specific type. Trying to add any other type to the array would cause the type checker to error out.

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// ✅ Two-dimensional array with inline declaration
const arr: string[][] = [['one'], ['two']];

// ✅ Empty two-dimensional array
const arr2: number[][] = [];

// ✅ Using a type
type Employee = {
  id: number;
  name: string;
};

const arr3: Employee[][] = [
  [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice' }],
  [{ id: 2, name: 'Bob' }],
];

The first example shows how to declare a two-dimensional array containing string arrays.

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

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const arr: string[][] = [['one'], ['two']];

// ⛔️ Error: Type 'number' is not assignable
// to type 'string'.ts(2322)
arr.push([100]);

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

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// 👇️ 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.

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const arr: string[][] = [
  ['hello', 'world'],
  ['one', 'two'],
];

arr.push(['a', 'b']);

// ⛔️ Error: Type 'boolean' is not
// assignable to type 'string'.ts(2322)
arr.push([true, false]);

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

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// 👇️ const arr: string[][]
const arr = [
  ['hello', 'world'],
  ['one', 'two'],
];

You could also use a type to define a two-dimensional array.

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type Nested = number[][];

const arr: Nested = [
  [1, 2, 3],
  [4, 5, 6],
];

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

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interface Example {
  nested: number[][];
}

const arr: Example = {
  nested: [
    [1, 2, 3],
    [4, 5, 6],
  ],
};

In some cases, you might know that the two-dimensional array will only have N nested arrays of specific type. You could use an array of tuples in this scenario.

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const arr: [[string, string], [string, string]] = [
  ['hello', 'world'],
  ['one', 'two'],
];

The arr variable we declared above is an array containing 2 tuples with each tuple storing 2 strings.

If you need to declare a readonly two-dimensional array, use the Readonly utility type.

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const arr: Readonly<string[][]> = [
  ['hello', 'world'],
  ['one', 'two'],
];

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'push' does not
// exist on type 'readonly string[][]'.ts(2339)
arr.push(['a', 'b']);

We passed the string[][] 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.

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const arr: ReadonlyArray<string[]> = [
  ['hello', 'world'],
  ['one', 'two'],
];

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'push' does not
// exist on type 'readonly string[][]'.ts(2339)
arr.push(['a', 'b']);

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