Why are we returning *f and not f

As the operator function should return by reference if we return *f then hows its returning by reference I am a little confused here pls help. And what will happen if we return the pointer to value i.e f?

hello @kunal81198
please mention the timestamp so that i can check which code u r talking

@kunal81198

i think u r confused between pointer and reference.
in c++ we have something called a reference variable, we declared them someting like
(T &a).

their behaviour is similar to pointer but here we dont need to mention * to access the value.

pls read more about it from hre->link

06:38 is the timestamp

@kunal81198

notice that f is pointer pointer that means it is containing some variable address right?
and when we do *f then this stament is equivalent to that variable.

return *f ; is sending the variable

and because in function declaration we have return somthing a T & , compiler will send this variable as reference