Multiple Values in return

Question

Hello, 
Great video but I am stumped by what I saw Dave do in this video. Specifically, I saw him add a couple of strings in the return  keyword, which I thought was prohibited. In my code, which worked identical to his, I wrote (in the var):
function getArea(width, length, unit) {
  var area = (width * length) + " " + unit;
  return area;
}
alert(getArea(10, 20, "ft.sq"));
However, he wrote (in the return):
function getArea(width, length, unit) {
  var area = (width * length) 
  return area + " " + unit;
}
alert(getArea(10, 20, "ft.sq"));
Both works fine, so could someone please elaborate how he is able to put a string and an argument into the return code? Are those not each individual values?
Thanks!

Steven Parker · Accepted Answer

Both versions are returning a single string.  The plus signs are not performing math but string concatenation.  The difference is that in your version, you perform the concatenation as you assign the string to the variable "area", which you return.   And you need those parentheses to be sure the math calculation happens before any string conversion.
In the other version, the variable "area" is only assigned the result of the calculation, so it is a number instead of a string.  But then in the return statement, the same concatenation is performed to create a string (with no name) and that string is returned.  His version doesn't actually have any parentheses (and does not need them).
So in both cases, what is returned is exactly the same thing.

Brandon Benefield · Answer

@Steven Parker (https://teamtreehouse.com/stevenparker) has a great answer but I feel it may still leave you confused. The easiest way I can explain it, is to think about the return statement just like an alert() or console.log(). In alert() and console.log() you can return anything you want as long as it is valid JavaScript. The only difference is a return statement is used inside of a function.
```js
func sentence(greeting, goodbye) {
  return greeting + ' ' + 'It was nice to see you!' + ' ' + goodbye;
}
sentence('Hello', 'See you later!') //returns 'Hello It was nice to see you! See you later!'

Is the equivalent of a simple `console.log()`  
js
var greeting = 'Hello';
var goodbye = 'See you later!';
console.log(greeting + ' ' + 'It was nice to see you!' + ' ' + goodbye) //returns 'Hello It was nice to see you! See you later!'
```
Another example to help solidify this knowledge is attempting to use a return statement outside of a function, you will be met with an error Uncaught SyntaxError: Illegal return statement.  
js  
if (true === true) {
  return true; // Uncaught SyntaxError: Illegal return statement
}
  
js  
if (true === true) {
  console.log(true); // returns 'true';
}

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Multiple Values in return

2 Answers

Steven Parker

Steven Parker

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Brandon Benefield

Brandon Benefield

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Brandon Benefield

Brandon Benefield