Property does not exist on type Union in TypeScript

Property does not exist on type Union in TypeScript #

The "property does not exist on type union" error occurs when we try to access a property that is not present on every object in the union type. To solve the error, use a type guard to ensure the property exists on the object before accessing it.

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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type Person = {
  age: number;
};

type Employee = {
  salary: number;
};

function getProperty(obj: Person | Employee): number {
  // ⛔️ Error: Property 'age' does not exist on type 'Person | Employee'.
  if (obj.age) {
    return obj.age;
  }

  return obj.salary;
}

The age property does not exist on all of the types in the union, so we aren't able to access it directly.

Instead, we have to use a type guard to check if the property exists in the object before accessing it.

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type Person = {
  age: number;
};

type Employee = {
  salary: number;
};

function getProperty(obj: Person | Employee): number {
  if ('age' in obj) {
    return obj.age;
  }

  return obj.salary;
}

We used the in operator, which is a type guard in TypeScript.

The in operator returns true if the specified property is in the object or its prototype chain.

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const obj = {
  a: 'hello',
};

console.log('a' in obj); // 👉️ true
console.log('b' in obj); // 👉️ false

This way TypeScript is able to infer the type of the object in the if block and after it.

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type Person = {
  age: number;
};

type Employee = {
  salary: number;
};

function getProperty(obj: Person | Employee): number {
  if ('age' in obj) {
    // 👇️ now `obj` is type `Person`
    return obj.age;
  }

  // 👇️ now `obj` is type `Employee`
  return obj.salary;
}

If the if block doesn't run, then the age property is not in the passed in object and TypeScript infers the type of obj to be Employee.

Conclusion #

The "property does not exist on type union" error occurs when we try to access a property that is not present on every object in the union type. To solve the error, use a type guard to ensure the property exists on the object before accessing it.