How to Type the reduce() method in TypeScript

Type the reduce() method in TypeScript #

Use a generic to type the reduce() method in TypeScript, e.g. const result = arr.reduce<Record<string, string>>(myFunction, {}). The generic is used to specify the type of the return and initial values of the reduce() method.

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const arr = [{ id: 1 }, { name: 'Alice' }, { salary: 100 }];

type ReduceReturnType = {
  id?: number;
  name?: string;
  salary?: number;
};

const result = arr.reduce<ReduceReturnType>(
  (accumulator, current) => {
    return { ...accumulator, ...current };
  },
  {}, // 👈️ initial value
);

// const result: ReduceReturnType
console.log(result); // 👉️ {id: 1, name: 'Alice', salary: 100}

console.log(result.id); // 👉️ 1
console.log(result.name); // 👉️ "Alice"
console.log(result.salary); // 👉️ 100

We used a generic to specify the type of the initial and return values of the reduce method.

The type of the result variable is ReduceReturnType in the example.

We marked the properties as optional in ReduceReturnType to satisfy the compiler, because the initial value we passed to the reduce() method is an empty object and is not compatible with ReduceReturnType.

You can also use a type assertion, especially if the type of the return value is different than the type of the initial value.

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const arr = [{ id: 1 }, { name: 'Alice' }, { salary: 100 }];

type ReduceReturnType = {
  id: number; // 👈️ 👈️ 👈️ no longer optional
  name: string;
  salary: number;
};

const result = arr.reduce<ReduceReturnType>(
  (accumulator, current) => {
    return { ...accumulator, ...current };
  },
  {} as ReduceReturnType, // 👈️ 👈️ 👈️ Now using Type Assertion
);

// const result: ReduceReturnType
console.log(result); // 👉️ {id: 1, name: 'Alice', salary: 100}

console.log(result.id); // 👉️ 1
console.log(result.name); // 👉️ "Alice"
console.log(result.salary); // 👉️ 100

The function we passed to the reduce method gets called for each element in the array. The reduce() method returns the accumulated result.

The second parameter we passed to the method is the initial value for the accumulator variable.

On the next iteration, the accumulator variable contains whatever we returned from the callback function.

Let's look at another example of typing the reduce() method.

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const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

type ReduceReturnType = Record<string, string>;

const result = arr.reduce<ReduceReturnType>(
  (accumulator, current) => {
    return { ...accumulator, [current]: current };
  },
  {}, // 👈️ initial value
);

// const result: ReduceReturnType
console.log(result); // 👉️ {a: 'a', b: 'b', c: 'c'}

We used Record<string, string> for the type of the accumulator, initial value and return value of the reduce() method.

The Record<Keys, Type> type is a utility type and is used to construct an object whose keys and values are of specific type.

In other words the accumulator variable in the example is an object that contains string keys and values.

The current variable stores the array element of the current iteration.