Why "current" in inputRef.current.focus()?

Question

Using useRef I create a reference to an input element named inputRef.
To set focus on the element I call:

inputRef.current.focus()

What does "current" mean and why is it needed? Why not just:

inputRef.focus() ?

Answer 1

useRef return an object that can hold a mutable value in its .current property.

If you pass a ref object to React with <div ref={myRef} />, React will set its .current property to the corresponding DOM node whenever that node changes.