C Pocket Reference

Name

return

Synopsis

The return statement ends the execution of the current function and returns control to the caller. The value of the expression in the return statement is returned to the caller as the return value of the function.

Syntax:

return expression;

Example:

int max( int a, int b )     // The maximum of a and b
{ return (a>b ? a : b); }

Any number of return statements can appear in a function.

The value of the return expression is converted to the type of the function if necessary.

The expression in the return statement can be omitted. This only makes sense in functions of type void, however—in which case the entire return statement can also be omitted. Then the function returns control to the caller at the end of the function block.