Question

What is the purpose of the return statement in a function?

Short answer

Answer: The return statement is used to end the execution of a function and return a value to the caller, allowing the output value to be used when the function is called. This is useful when there is a requirement to send back a value from the function, such as when performing calculations or returning results. In contrast, void functions do not have a return statement and are primarily used to perform actions without sending back any output value.

Step-by-step solution

Define Function and Return Statement

A function is a reusable piece of code designed to do a specific task. The return statement is used to end the execution of the function and return a value to the caller, it decides what value the function should output when it is called.

Use of Return Statement

The return statement can be used when there is a requirement to send back a value from the function. Otherwise, the function will be executed, and no value will be displayed or used by the calling code, which sometimes might be irrelevant in some cases and it would not return any value.

Return Statement Example

If we have a function that calculates the square of a number, the return statement sends the result back to where the function is called, allowing us to use that value in other parts of our code. Let's consider a simple return statement: def square(number): result = number ** 2 return result number = 4 result = square(number) print("The square of", number, "is", result) In this example, the return statement returns the value of 'result' variable which is then assigned to the 'result' variable outside the function and printed.

Functions Without Return Statements

It is important to note that functions don't always need a return statement. Functions that don't have a return statement are called void functions and are primarily used when the function is only required to perform an action (e.g., display a message or update a value) without sending back any output value. For example: def greet(name): print("Hello", name) greet("John") In this example, the function "greet" does not have a return statement, as it is only required to print a greeting message.