How does useRef work and what are common use cases?

useRef creates a mutable reference that persists across renders.

✅ Syntax:

const ref = useRef(initialValue);

✅ Use cases:

• Accessing DOM elements
• Persisting values without causing re-renders
• Storing previous values

✅ Example (DOM access):

const inputRef = useRef();

function focusInput() {

inputRef.current.focus();

}
return <input ref={inputRef} />;

✅ Example (storing previous state):

const prevCount = useRef();

useEffect(() => {

prevCount.current = count;

});