getFieldState

Get validation and interaction state of a specific field.

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</> `getFieldState:` UseFormGetFieldState Since v7.25.0

This method returns individual field state. It is useful for retrieving nested field state in a type-safe way.

Props

Name	Type	Description
`name`	`string`	registered field name.
formState	`object`	This is an optional prop, which is only required if `formState` has not been read from or subscribed to via `useForm`, `useFormContext` or `useFormState`. See the rules below for more information.

Return

Name	Type	Description
`isDirty`	`boolean`	field is modified. Condition: subscribe to `dirtyFields`.
isTouched	`boolean`	field has received a focus and blur event. Condition: subscribe to `touchedFields`.
invalid	`boolean`	field is not valid. Condition: subscribe to `errors`.
isValidating	`boolean`	Since v7.51.0 field is currently being validated. Condition: subscribe to `isValidating`.
error	`undefined \| FieldError`	field error object. Condition: subscribe to `errors`.

RULES

The prop must match a registered field name.

register("test") // registers the input
getFieldState("test") // ✅ returns state for the registered field
getFieldState("non-existent-name") // ❌ returns default/false state since this name was never registered

getFieldState works by subscribing to form state updates, and you can subscribe to the formState in the following ways:

You can subscribe at the useForm, useFormContext or useFormState. This is will establish the form state subscription and getFieldState second argument will no longer be required.

const {
  register,
  formState: { isDirty },
} = useForm()
register("test")
getFieldState("test") // ✅

const { isDirty } = useFormState()
register("test")
getFieldState("test") // ✅

const {
  register,
  formState: { isDirty },
} = useFormContext()
register("test")
getFieldState("test") // ✅

When form state subscription is not set up, you can pass the entire formState as the second optional argument by following the example below:

const { register } = useForm()
register("test")
const { isDirty } = getFieldState("test") // ❌ formState isDirty is not subscribed at useForm
const { register, formState } = useForm()
const { isDirty } = getFieldState("test", formState) // ✅ formState.isDirty subscribed
const { formState } = useFormContext()
const { isTouched } = getFieldState("test", formState) // ✅ formState.touchedFields subscribed

Examples

CodeSandbox ^JS

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form"

export default function App() {
  const {
    register,
    getFieldState,
    formState: { isDirty, isValid },
  } = useForm({
    mode: "onChange",

    defaultValues: {
      firstName: "",
    },
  })

  // you can invoke before render or within the render function

  const fieldState = getFieldState("firstName")

  return (
    <form>
      <input {...register("firstName", { required: true })} />{" "}
      <p>{getFieldState("firstName").isDirty && "dirty"}</p>{" "}
      <p>{getFieldState("firstName").isTouched && "touched"}</p>
      <button
        type="button"
        onClick={() => console.log(getFieldState("firstName"))}
      >
        field state
      </button>
    </form>
  )
}

Tips

In a reusable field component, subscribe to only that field with useFormState({ name }), and pass the result to getFieldState. The component then re-renders only when that field's state changes:

function FieldError({ name }) {
  const { getFieldState } = useFormContext()
  const formState = useFormState({ name })
  const { error, isTouched } = getFieldState(name, formState)

  return isTouched && error ? <p role="alert">{error.message}</p> : null
}

getFieldState is typed against your form values, so a misspelled nested path is a type error. Reading errors.some.deep.path by hand is not checked in the same way.

Troubleshooting

`isDirty`, `isTouched`, and `invalid` are always `false`

Why it happens

The field name may not be registered, or the component has not subscribed to the matching form-state properties. getFieldState reads state; it does not create every subscription by itself.

Fix

Check that the name exactly matches a registered field. Then read the required state from formState, or pass a scoped useFormState result:

const formState = useFormState({ control, name: "email" })
const emailState = getFieldState("email", formState)

A field state is stale inside an event handler

Why it happens

The component never subscribed to the state being read. Reading getFieldState only inside a click handler does not cause the component to re-render when that state changes.

Fix

For reactive UI, call useFormState({ name }) during render and pass its result to getFieldState. For a one-time read, call getFieldState in the handler after the operation that updates the field.