In React, a fragment is a special component that allows you to group multiple elements without introducing an extra DOM element. It’s often used to solve the issue of having to wrap adjacent JSX elements in a container element, such as a div, when you don’t want that extra container element to affect the layout or styling.

Using a fragment, you can group elements without adding any additional nodes to the DOM. Fragments help keep the HTML structure cleaner and improve performance by avoiding unnecessary nesting.

Here’s how you can use a React fragment:

import React from 'react';

const ComponentWithFragment = () => {
  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      <h1>Title</h1>
      <p>Paragraph 1</p>
      <p>Paragraph 2</p>
    </React.Fragment>
  );
};

export default ComponentWithFragment;

Starting with React 16.2, you can also use a shorthand syntax for fragments using the empty angle bracket <> and </>:

import React from 'react';

const ComponentWithShorthandFragment = () => {
  return (
    <>
      <h1>Title</h1>
      <p>Paragraph 1</p>
      <p>Paragraph 2</p>
    </>
  );
};

export default ComponentWithShorthandFragment;

Both the React.Fragment and the shorthand syntax <> and </> achieve the same result: grouping elements without introducing extra DOM nodes.

Fragments are particularly useful in scenarios where you want to return multiple elements from a component, like in a loop or conditional rendering, without having to wrap them in a container that would affect the layout or styling.

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