Introduction
React provides a variety of hooks that empower developers to manage state and interact with the DOM efficiently. One such hook is useRef, which allows you to create a mutable reference to a DOM element or any mutable value that persists across renders without causing re-renders. In this guide, we'll explore how to effectively utilize useRef in React applications.
What is useRef?
useRef is a hook provided by React that returns a mutable ref object whose useRef property is initialized with the passed argument. The useRef property can be assigned a value, and it persists between renders. Unlike state, updating the ref value doesn't trigger a re-render.
When to Use useRef?
- Accessing DOM elements: You can use useRef to gain direct access to DOM elements and interact with them imperatively.
- Storing mutable values: useRef can store mutable values that persist across renders, useful for keeping track of values without causing re-renders.
- Preserving values between renders: Unlike local variables, values stored in refs are preserved between renders.