Returning help/explanation

[NotOfeyz]

Hello everyone, for a while now I’ve been stuck on trying to learn what return is and why is this useful or necessary to be in a script.
I tried reading about it in the Roblox documentations but still can’t understand.
Anyone can explain it to me? I wanna know what it does, why would I use it/why is it useful, where and when to use returning and if it’s even important for anything.

Thank you.

[dthecoolest]

This is one good explanation on returning:

What is “return” and what’s its use in roblox scripting?

Before you understand return you need to understand a function’s purpose. What is a function’s purpose The purpose of a function is to shorten and simplify your code. For instance say I have this code that changes the color of 3 parts to green then to blue. local parts = { workspace.Part1, workspace.Part2, workspace.Part3 } for _, part in ipairs(parts) do parts[1].BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright blue") parts[2].BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright blue") parts[3].BrickColor = B…

My TL;DR functions simplify code which is necessary in a script as it can get very complex. Return is good in functions to obtain the important information or result from the function.

[OfficialPogCat (POG_Cat)]

Return is really helpful! For example, I am able to write different functions and pass information. It’s also important for Remote functions in passing information , as well as using it inside functions and Used in module scripts to often return a list of information to be used (To name a few real and common uses in Luau)

Take this example…

local function CompareNumber(FirstNumber, SecondNumber) 
 if FirstNumber > SecondNumber then 

    return FirstNumber.." is greater then "..SecondNumber

 elseif FirstNumber < SecondNumber then

    return FirstNumber.." is less then "..SecondNumber

 elseif FirstNumber == SecondNumber then

    return FirstNumber.." is equal to"..SecondNumber
end

print(CompareNumber(1, 5)) --prints "1 is less then 5"

print(CompareNumber(42, 3)) --prints "42 is greater then 3"

print(CompareNumber(15, 15)) --prints "15 is equal to 15"

We are able to send data outside the function, with returning. We could make it into a Variable too like local ComparedValue = CompareNumber(15, 15) Which ComparedValue in this case would just be a string, “15 is equal to 15”, that we could use elsewhere then just printing (like putting it on a TextLabel etc.)

TL;DR:

In really simple words, return allows us to give data, to be used elsewhere, is how I think about returning.

[NotOfeyz]

So basically if I understood correctly, returning let’s you use data outside of a function?

Like I have a function:
local function test()
– blah blah
local player = game.Players:GetChildren()

return player

end

Like in this one I’d be able to use the player variable again?

[OfficialPogCat (POG_Cat)]

Basically yes. Your function is getting all the children in the players service at the time the function is called, and not one player but it can be used…

local function test()
– blah blah
 local player = game.Players:GetChildren()
 return player

end

--Example of getting a random player from list: 

local Players = test() 
print(Players[math.random(1, #Players)].Name) --prints a random players name. 

It’s also important to note that there can’t be any lines of code after a function returns once (besides ends and stuff. You can have if then statements and have more then one returns in a function though!)

[Mihaqwest5 (Mihaq)]

The “return” thing is easy:
For example you got a function with input arguements:

local function calculation(a, b)
    return a + b
end
print(calucation(2, 2)) -- output is 4

P.S. Any code after return is being ignored as it’s returning meaning of function.