What is the Difference Between "unknown" and "any" Types in TypeScript?
In TypeScript, both any and unknown types can represent any value, but they differ in type safety:
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any: Disables type checking, allowing any operations on the variable without compile-time errors. This can lead to runtime errors if the variable doesn't have the expected type. -
unknown: A type-safe counterpart to any. While any value can be assigned to an unknown variable, TypeScript enforces type checks before you can perform operations on it, ensuring safer code.
In summary, use unknown when you want a variable to accept any value but still enforce type safety, and use any when you need maximum flexibility without type checks.