JSDoc - What does it mean to return * from a function?

Question

Using WebStorm , the following JSDoc documentation was generated:

/**
 * Patient retrieval success action
 * @param {Object} patient - Patient object returned from getPatient search query
 * @returns {{type, patient: *}}
 */
export const getPatientSuccess = patient => ({
  type: PATIENT_LOADED,
  patient,
});

In this context, patient is an object that may contain variable information. Here is another section with a similar JSDoc generated comment:

/**
 * Functional stateless component to display medication data
 * @param medications
 * @returns {*}
 * @constructor
 */
const Medications = ({ medications }) => {
  if (medications.status === 'success') {
    // Return table of medications if available
    return (/** Table of medications */);
  }

  // Return NoDataView by default if no meds are available
  return (
    <NoDataView
      heading="Data Unavailable"
      subtext="Medications data unavailable"
      isGlyphHidden={false}
    />
  );
};

In this context, variable component information may be returned. Is that simply what @returns {*} means?

Answer 1

In JSDocs, type info is generally wrapped in curly brackets for @returns and @param attributes.

@return {*} specifies that the function returns the type * .

* is a wildcard that stands for any type .

In other words, the function can return any type .

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Check out the JSDocs docs for more info.

Answer 2

It means

{*} Whatever you want

In the documantation you can see and here is a doc of the returns returns