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JavaScript

Posted by Alex Watts
Alex Watts
8,396 Points

The return value.

Hello,

I am struggling to understand the concept of the return value. When can it be used and why.

For example, why does this code not need to use the return value?

var theReturn = function() {
 var total = 10 * 10;
 console.log(total);
}
theReturn();

Thanks!

1 Answer

Julian Gutierrez
Julian Gutierrez
19,325 Points
Julian Gutierrez
Julian Gutierrez
19,325 Points

The return statement is used anytime you need to "return" a value to the function caller. In the example you gave there is no need to return the solution of 10x10 because it is not used outside of the function. In the example below we run Bob's age through the addFive function so we can use that value in the alert outside of the function.

var age = 25;

alert("Bob will be " + addFive(age) + " in 5 years.");

function addFive(num){
  return num+=5;
}