Convert optional properties of a TypeScript interface to nullable properties

Question

I have the following type:

interface A {
  p1: string
  p2?: string
}

I would like to generate a sub-type B with optional properties converted to nullable properties. Something equivalent to:

interface B {
  p1: string
  p2: string | null
}

I tried something like this:

type VuexPick<T, K extends keyof T> = {
  [P in K]-?: T[P] extends undefined ? null : T[P];
};

type B = VuexPick<A, "p1" | "p2">;

But it doesn't work. Any idea?

Answer 1

Your type B gets resolved to this:

type B = {
  p1: string extends undefined ? null : string
  p2: string | undefined extends undefined ? null : string | undefined
};

string | undefined as supertype does not extend undefined, it is the other way around. So you end up with this type:

type B = {
    p1: string;
    p2: string;
}

You could instead create a UndefinedToNull type, which causes a distributive conditional type to be applied, as T is a naked type parameter now.

type VuexPick2<T, K extends keyof T> = {
  [P in K]-?: UndefinedToNull<T[P]>;
};

type UndefinedToNull<T> = T extends undefined ? null : T

type B2 = VuexPick2<A, "p1" | "p2">; // type B2 = { p1: string; p2: string | null;}

E.g. type UndefinedToNull<string | undefined> is the same as B4:

type B4 = 
| (string extends undefined ? null: string) 
| (undefined extends undefined ? null: undefined) // type B4 = string | null

Playground

Answer 2

This works:

export type OptionalTuNullable<O> = {
  [K in keyof O]-?: undefined extends O[K] ? NonNullable<O[K]> | null : O[K];
};

So for instance:

type R = {
  a: string;
  b?: string;
  c?: string | null;
  d: string | undefined;
};

type A = OptionalTuNullable<R>;
// A: {
//     a: string;
//     b: string | null;
//     c: string | null;
//     d: string | null;
// }

Then, for the "Pick" part, you can just resort to the standard Pick type:

type B = Pick<A, "a" | "c">;
// B: {
//   a: string;
//   c: string | null;
// }

Summing up, I think this would work for your use case:

type VuexPick<T, K extends keyof T> = Pick<OptionalTuNullable<T>, K>

type C = VuexPick<R, 'c'>
// C: {
//   c: string | null;
// }