TypeScript Access Modifiers

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn about the access modifiers in TypeScript including private, protected, and public.

Access modifiers change the visibility of the properties and methods of a class. TypeScript provides three access modifiers:

private
protected
public

Note

That TypeScript controls the access logically during compilation time, not at runtime.

The private modifier

The private modifier limits the visibility to the same class only. When you add the private modifier to a property or method, you can access that property or method within the same class. Any attempt to access private properties or methods outside the class will result in an error at compiled time.

The following example shows how to use the private modifier to the snn, firstName, and lastName properties of the person class:

class Person {
  private ssn: string;
  private firstName: string;
  private lastName: string;

  // ...
}

Once the private property is in place, you can access the ssn property in the constructor or methods of the Person class. For example:

class Person {
  private ssn: string;
  private firstName: string;
  private lastName: string;

  constructor(ssn: string, firstName: string, lastName: string) {
    this.ssn = ssn;
    this.firstName = firstName;
    this.lastName = lastName;
  }

  getFullName(): string {
    return `${this.firstName} ${this.lastName}`;
  }
}

The following attempts to access the ssn property outside the class:

let person = new Person('153-07-3130', 'John', 'Doe');
console.log(person.ssn); // compile error

The public modifier

The public modifier allows class properties and methods to be accessible from all locations. If you don’t specify any access modifier for properties and methods, they will take the public modifier by default.

For example, the getFullName() method of the Person class has the public modifier. The following explicitly adds the public modifier to the getFullName() method:

class Person {
    // ...
    public getFullName(): string {
        return `${this.firstName} ${this.lastName}`; 
    }
    // ...
}

It has the same effect as if the public keyword were omitted.

The protected modifier

The protected modifier allows properties and methods of a class to be accessible within the same class and subclasses.

When a class (child class) inherits from another class (parent class), it is a subclass of the parent class.

The TypeScript compiler will issue an error if you attempt to access the protected properties or methods from anywhere else.

To add the protected modifier to a property or a method, you use the protected keyword. For example:

class Person {
    protected ssn: string;

    // other code
}

The ssn property now is protected. It will be accessible within the Person class and in any class that inherits from the Person class. You’ll learn more about inheritance here.

The Person class declares the two private properties and one protected property. Its constructor initializes these properties to three arguments:

class Person {
  protected ssn: string;
  private firstName: string;
  private lastName: string;

  constructor(ssn: string, firstName: string, lastName: string) {
    this.ssn = ssn;
    this.firstName = firstName;
    this.lastName = lastName;
  }

  getFullName(): string {
    return `${this.firstName} ${this.lastName}`;
  }
}

To make the code shorter, TypeScript allows you to both declare properties and initialize them in the constructor like this:

class Person {
  constructor(
    protected ssn: string,
    private firstName: string,
    private lastName: string
  ) {}

  getFullName(): string {
    return `${this.firstName} ${this.lastName}`;
  }
}

When you consider the visibility of properties and methods, it is a good practice to start with the least visible access modifier, which is private.

Summary

TypeScript provides three access modifiers to class properties and methods: private, protected, and public.
The private modifier allows access within the same class.
The protected modifier allows access within the same class and subclasses.
The public modifier allows access from any location.
Properties and methods have public access if you omit the access modifiers.