How can I use return properly?

[SoyFabian_YT3 (Fabio)]

Basically I don’t know how to make it useful, and I’ve seen some people saying that it is used to stop functions

[Rescriptedd (rescripted)]

return is used to stop functions, yes, but it is also used to return certain things, for example a string.

local function returnString()
    return "This is a string"
end

print(returnString())

[ChiDj123 (xHeptc)]

You can also use return to exit a for loop. It’s also used to un-nest your code.
for loop ex:

local Table = {"One", "Two", "Three", "Four"}

for _, number in Table do
    if number == "Two" then
       return
    end 
    print(number)
end

--Output:
--One

Un-nest example:

-- Nested code:
function printIfNumber(valueToPrint)
   if typeof(valueToPrint) == "number" then
       print(valueToPrint)
   end
end

-- Un-nested code using `return`:
function printIfNumber(valueToPrint)
   if typeof(valueToPrint) ~= "number" then
       return
   end
   print(valueToPrint)
end

[ruckuhs]

Returning is typically used to send info from 1 function to another… a very simple (although unnecessary) way of Returning would be to make a set of functions, 1 generates 2 Random numbers and Returns them, the other function recieves the Return and adds them together.

Here is what the code would look like:

function generateRandomNumbers()
	local number1 = math.random(1, 50)
	local number2 = math.random(1, 50)
	
	print("Random Numbers: " .. number1 .. ", " .. number2)
	
	return number1, number2 -- we parse the 2 random number variables out to whatever function / part of the code wants to receive it
end

function addNumbers()
	local number1, number2 = generateRandomNumbers()
	
	warn("Recieved numbers from the 'generateRandomNumbers' function!")
	print(number1 + number2)
end

addNumbers()

[LinusKat]

U can use return to callback info from a function, for example if i have a function like this:

‘local function pow(a, b) return a^b end print(pow(5, 2))

This function will return the result of a^b so it will print 25

(Typed this on phone so it is ban but works)

[LinusKat]

If you run a loop and return it breaks the loop like break

[SoyFabian_YT3 (Fabio)]

Thank you, I think I understand it way better