Generally the tsc program will produce the output in a .js format even though there are compile time errors during the transpilation, which may confuse the developers at time. We have a way to avoid the .js file generation in case of any errors.

This is part of the Typescript Tutorial Series, whose index / TOC is available here → Typescript Tutorial Series.

Typical flow of tsc when there is a compilation error

variables-with-errors.ts

let isCaught : boolean = 1; // can have either a true or false, not anything else

typescriptPractices > tsc variables-with-errors.ts
variables-with-errors.ts:1:5 - error TS2322: Type 'number' is not assignable to type 'boolean'.

1 let isCaught : boolean = 1;
      ~~~~~~~~


Found 1 error.


typescriptPractices >

Note: For certain valid and legitimate reasons, you can use the different datatype any instead of boolean to avoid the compiler error.

However it is not generally recommended, until and otherwise you have a very strong reason, since it will defeat the purpose of Tyepscript due to the fact the any type will NOT perform the type checking.

Though the compiler generates an error in the console, the tsc still produces the output file variables-with-errors.js.

typescriptPractices > ls -l
total 24
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 71 2021-06-19 23:43 any-demo.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 75 2021-06-19 23:43 any-demo.ts
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 58 2021-06-19 23:54 variables-with-errors.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 68 2021-06-19 23:53 variables-with-errors.ts
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 56 2021-06-19 23:41 variables.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 67 2021-06-19 23:41 variables.ts

typescriptPractices > cat variables-with-errors.js
var isCaught = 1;
console.log("isFound : " + isCaught);

You can see that there is an output file generated variables-with-errors.js despite there was a compiler error.

Avoid the .js file generation

Now, let us see how can we avoid or control behavior in such a way that we do NOT want any .js file if there are any errors during the compilation/transpilation.

We can add a runtime flag -noEmitOnError during the invocation of the tsc to stop the generation of the output file with a .js extension.

typescriptPractices > rm variables-with-errors.js 

typescriptPractices > ls -l *.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 71 2021-06-19 23:43 any-demo.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 56 2021-06-19 23:41 variables.js

typescriptPractices > tsc -noEmitOnError variables-with-errors.ts
variables-with-errors.ts:1:5 - error TS2322: Type 'number' is not assignable to type 'boolean'.

1 let isCaught : boolean = 1;
      ~~~~~~~~

Found 1 error.

typescriptPractices > ls -l
total 20
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 71 2021-06-19 23:43 any-demo.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 75 2021-06-19 23:43 any-demo.ts
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 68 2021-06-19 23:53 variables-with-errors.ts
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 56 2021-06-19 23:41 variables.js
-rw-rw-rw-  1 raghs 0 67 2021-06-19 23:41 variables.ts

typescriptPractices >

The sequence of operations were carried out as below.

• We have first deleted the variables-with-errors.js file
• Executed the tsc with the necessary -noEmitOnError flag as an argument.
• This time there was no output file generated as there was a compiler error.
• The output was verified with the listing at the end through ls -l command.

Cheers,
RM…
Raghavan alias Saravanan Muthu
19 Jun 2021 | Sat | 22:11:29 PM IST