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Abe Layee
8,378 Pointsreturn in JavaScript.
I am little lost. Why is return so important in JavaScript? Anyone mind telling me about return keyword in javaScript or why is it so useful to return a fucntion. I copied this code from the JavaScript Basic. I am lost with the return 5 part. I understand the rest except the return 5. Why do we have to return 5 instead of return giveMefive? Can a return in function be any number or variable inside a function? Thank you in advance.
function giveMeFive() {
return 5; // Why is it 5 instead of giveMeFive?
}
// prints 5 to the console
console.log( giveMeFive() );
3 Answers
Robert Richey
Courses Plus Student 16,352 PointsFunctions are the actions or verbs in your program. It's common to have a function that returns a value, so that you can use it somewhere else in your program.
Let's take a closer look at that.
// when you call this function, you'll get back the value 5
function giveMeFive() {
return 5;
}
// anywhere you write giveMeFive(); you can instead think of it as being the literal number 5
console.log(giveMeFive());
// giveMeFive() executes first, then it's return value is placed into console.log. Then console.log executes, printing 5.
console.log(5);
Abe Layee
8,378 Pointsso the return can be any value as long is not many characters. A return can only return one value such as string,boolean,number, and so on. I think I got it now.
Robert Richey
Courses Plus Student 16,352 PointsIt's true that a function can only have one return statement, but you could return an array, or object and get many different values back.
function myName() {
var fullName = {
firstName: 'Robert',
lastName: 'Richey'
};
return fullName;
}
// antime I call myName(), I'll get back an object holding two values.
var name = myName();
console.log("My first name is: " + name.firstName);
console.log("My last name is: " + name.lastName);
Abe Layee
8,378 PointsThank buddy for making things clear to me. I apprecaite it man.
Robert Richey
Courses Plus Student 16,352 PointsMy pleasure. Happy to help :)