Return Values

What You’ll Learn

You’ll learn how to let a function return a value back to the code that called it.

The return Keyword

To let a function return a value, use the return statement.

def multiply(x, y):
    return x * y

result = multiply(5, 3)
print(result) # 15

When a return statement is reached, the function immediately stops executing and gives the value back.

def check_age(age):
    if age < 18:
        return "Too young"
    
    # This won't run if age < 18
    return "Welcome!"

print(check_age(15)) # Too young
print(check_age(20)) # Welcome!

The None Type

If a function doesn’t have a return statement (like our print() examples from earlier), it implicitly returns a special Python value called None.