Standardised Nullable<T> type

[J-Cake]

Suggestion

Primary Suggestion

I'm not sure why this hasn't been standardised yet, I'm sure there's a good explanation, but basically, the idea is that

type Nullable<T> = T | null | undefined;

be introduced into the standard list of types.

Secondary Suggestion

• I also happened to notice that variables cannot be marked with ? directly. My suggestion would be that

let x?: number;

translates to

let x: Nullable<number>;

List of keywords you searched for before creating this issue. Write them down here so that others can find this suggestion more easily and help provide feedback.

✅ Viability Checklist

My suggestion meets these guidelines:

• This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
• This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals.

⭐ Suggestion

Basically I want to be able to do:

const x?: Date = Api?.getTime();

• It's much cleaner
• I use exactly that type in every single project
• I tend to redefine it in most of my files instead of importing it because I can't think of a sensible place to put it
• me want :P

[MartinJohns]

Duplicate of #39522 and many others. Used search terms: nullable in:title

[MartinJohns]

Your secondary suggestion is a duplicate of #41901. Used search terms: optional variable in:title

[MartinJohns]

I tend to redefine it in most of my files instead of importing it because I can't think of a sensible place to put it

If you declare the type in a non-module declaration file it will be available everywhere without having to import it.

[typescript-bot]

This issue has been marked as a 'Duplicate' and has seen no recent activity. It has been automatically closed for house-keeping purposes.