Create an enum with string values

Question

Following code can be used to create an enum in TypeScript:

enum e {     hello = 1,     world = 2 }; 

And the values can be accessed by:

e.hello; e.world; 

How do I create an enum with string values?

enum e {     hello = "hello", // error: cannot convert string to e     world = "world"  // error  }; 

Answer 1

TypeScript 2.4

Now has string enums so your code just works:

enum E {     hello = "hello",     world = "world" }; 

🌹

TypeScript 1.8

Since TypeScript 1.8 you can use string literal types to provide a reliable and safe experience for named string values (which is partially what enums are used for).

type Options = "hello" | "world"; var foo: Options; foo = "hello"; // Okay  foo = "asdf"; // Error! 

More : https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/advanced-types.html#string-literal-types

Legacy Support

Enums in TypeScript are number based.

You can use a class with static members though:

class E {     static hello = "hello";     static world = "world";  } 

You could go plain as well:

var E = {     hello: "hello",     world: "world" } 

Update: Based on the requirement to be able to do something like var test:E = E.hello; the following satisfies this:

class E {     // boilerplate      constructor(public value:string){         }      toString(){         return this.value;     }      // values      static hello = new E("hello");     static world = new E("world"); }  // Sample usage:  var first:E = E.hello; var second:E = E.world; var third:E = E.hello;  console.log("First value is: "+ first); console.log(first===third);  

Answer 2

In latest version (1.0RC) of TypeScript, you can use enums like this:

enum States {     New,     Active,     Disabled }   // this will show message '0' which is number representation of enum member alert(States.Active);   // this will show message 'Disabled' as string representation of enum member alert(States[States.Disabled]); 

Update 1

To get number value of enum member from string value, you can use this:

var str = "Active"; // this will show message '1' alert(States[str]); 

Update 2

In latest TypeScript 2.4, there was introduced string enums, like this:

enum ActionType {     AddUser = "ADD_USER",     DeleteUser = "DELETE_USER",     RenameUser = "RENAME_USER",      // Aliases     RemoveUser = DeleteUser, } 

For more info about TypeScript 2.4, read blog on MSDN.