03.31.2022 - TypeScript/The intrinsic keyword

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Posted On 03.31.2022

In the previous post, we learned how some utility types are implemented. The fact that they’re all done at the type level is very interesting. But not all utility types can be done like that.

In TypeScript, there are some special utility types for string literal types manipulation like Uppercase<T>, Lowercase<T>, Capitalize<T>, Uncapitalize<T>. We would use them on a string literal types like this:

type T10 = Uppercase<'hello'>;  // "HELLO"
type T11 = Lowercase<'HELLO'>;  // "hello"
type T12 = Capitalize<'hello'>;  // "Hello"
type T13 = Uncapitalize<'Hello'>;  // "hello"

Under the hood, they are implemented with nothing but a mystery intrinsic keyword:

type Uppercase<S extends string> = intrinsic;
type Lowercase<S extends string> = intrinsic;
type Capitalize<S extends string> = intrinsic;
type Uncapitalize<S extends string> = intrinsic;

intrinsic is the keyword that TypeScript used to let the type checker know that it needs to provide an implementation for this type because it cannot be done in the type system.

Do a quick search in the Typescript code, we can see exactly where TypeScript implemented these types, in the compiler’s type checker (src/compiler/checker.ts):

function applyStringMapping(symbol: Symbol, str: string) {
    switch (intrinsicTypeKinds.get(symbol.escapedName as string)) {
        case IntrinsicTypeKind.Uppercase: return str.toUpperCase();
        case IntrinsicTypeKind.Lowercase: return str.toLowerCase();
        case IntrinsicTypeKind.Capitalize: return str.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + str.slice(1);
        case IntrinsicTypeKind.Uncapitalize: return str.charAt(0).toLowerCase() + str.slice(1);
    }
    return str;
}

Currently, the intrinsic keywords are limited to these utility types, in the future, there might be more:

const intrinsicTypeKinds: ReadonlyESMap<string, IntrinsicTypeKind> = new Map(getEntries({
    Uppercase: IntrinsicTypeKind.Uppercase,
    Lowercase: IntrinsicTypeKind.Lowercase,
    Capitalize: IntrinsicTypeKind.Capitalize,
    Uncapitalize: IntrinsicTypeKind.Uncapitalize
}));

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