C++11 about *begin(a)

#include<iterator>
#include<iostream>
int a[5][4];
int main()
{
    cout << *begin(a);
}

Why this cout will print the same as begin(a).

It seems the * does not dereferencing the pointer return by begin(a) ?

Can anyone tell me why?

>Solution :

Here * affects only the type of the pointer, and not its numerical value.

std::begin(a) returns a pointer to the first element of a, of type int (*)[4] (pointer to an array of 4 ints).

*std::begin(a) returns int[4]. Since cout can’t print arrays directly, the array then decays to the pointer to its first element, of type int *, and is printed as such.

**std::begin(a) would return an int.