this pointer question

[Lucifre]

What does

return *this;

mean? code sniplets to explain would be apreciated

 

[louisnells]

"this" pointer will point to the currently referring class object. So "*this" will be the data value of the class object. Hence

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Class1 Class1::func1() {
    return *this;
}

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Class1 var1, var2;
var2 = var1.func1();

will always set "var2" by the value of the class object with which the member function was called (var1).
This may be overrided by using an assignment operator (Class1:perator=()). But if the return type was by refernce (ie: Class1& func1()) "Class1 &var2 = var1.func1();" will set var2 as a reference to var1. Also this may have a different behaviour if the return (by value) type was set to initialize a class object.