Thread: Question about Pointer syntax in function declarations?

So I'm reading through "Jumping into C++" and I've made way through to chapter 15: "intro to data structures w/ linked lists". This has been the most difficult for me to wrap my head around so far. It's sort of making sense to me on a theoretical level but there is a bit of syntax that confuses me. Why do I need to use "*" when declaring a function, or rather what effect does this have?

Code:

//exp function deceleration

type* funcName ();

//type = a structure if that's relevant

The only information I've been able to gather via google involves pointers to function but that is a different topic and a different syntax...

This is probably going to sound silly to most of you more experienced programmers but I'm still learning and I'm finding it difficult to find information about this particular syntax.

No, this isn't a function pointer.
This is a function that returns a pointer.

(If you write one, remember not to return a local address.)

Thanks manasij7479 and Elysia, I had suspected that was what was going on but I couldn't find any hard evidence to confirm it, very helpful, makes perfect sense.