JSX.Element

JSX.Element is a type used in TypeScript to represent the result of JSX syntax in a React application. It is used for type checking in TypeScript to ensure that a variable or a return type is a valid JSX element. It is an alias for React.ReactElement <any, any>, meaning it represents a React element with any props and any type. Commonly used to type the return value of functional components in React.

A JSX Element is really nothing else than syntactic sugar for createElement. It’s more generic type. The JSXElement Component is a functional React component that returns a JSX element. The return type is specified as JSX.Element.

Example: Simple React component using JSX.Element.

import React from 'react';
const JSXElementComponent = (): JSX.Element => {
    return <div>Hello, JSX.Element!</div>;
};
export default JSXElementComponent;

ReactElement

ReactElement is a fundamental concept in React that represents an element specifying what you want to display on the screen. It is an immutable JavaScript object containing all the necessary information to create and manage the DOM nodes or other outputs in a React application. It is characterized by its immutability, meaning it cannot be changed once created. It is also lightweight, being a plain JavaScript object that describes a DOM node or a component. This object includes the type of the element (e.g., div, span, or a React component), its props, and any children.

The ReactElementComponent is a functional React component that returns a React element. The return type is specified as ReactElement.

Example: Simple React component using ReactElement

import React from 'react';
import { ReactElement } from 'react';
const ReactElementComponent = (): ReactElement => {
    return <div>Hello, ReactElement!</div>;
};
export default ReactElementComponent;

ReactNode

ReactNode is a TypeScript type that represents any value that can be rendered by React. This includes not only ReactElement, but also a variety of other types that can be used as children in React components. It is commonly used in typing props for components, especially for children props, where the content can vary widely.

It encompasses a variety of types that React can render, including ReactElement (created via JSX or React.createElement), plain text (string), numeric values (number), and booleans (true or false, though they don’t produce output). It also includes null and undefined, which produce no renderable output. Additionally, ReactNode can be an array of these types, allowing for nested renderable content.

Example: Simple React component using ReactElement

import React from 'react';
import { ReactNode } from 'react';
type ReactNodeComponentProps = {
    children: ReactNode;
};
const ReactNodeComponent = ({ children }: ReactNodeComponentProps): JSX.Element => {
    return <div>{children}</div>;
};

JSX.Element vs ReactElement vs ReactNode