Does a function always return a value? Explain with an example.

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English Chatterbox · Accepted Answer

No, a function does not always return a value. In Python, functions can be categorized into two types based on whether they return a value or not:

Void Functions

: These functions do not return any value. They perform actions but do not give back any result to the caller.

Non-Void Functions

: These functions return a value using the

return

statement.

Here's an example to illustrate both types:

Example of a Void Function:

A function that prints the square of a number but does not return the result.

def print_square(num):
    square = num * num
    print(f"The square of {num} is {square}")

# Function call
print_square(4)

# Output:
# The square of 4 is 16

In this case,

print_square

is a

void function

because it only prints the result and does not return any value to the caller.

Example of a Non-Void Function:

A function that calculates and returns the square of a number.

def calculate_square(num):
    square = num * num
    return square

# Function call
result = calculate_square(4)
print(f"The square of 4 is {result}")

# Output:
# The square of 4 is 16

In this case,

calculate_square

is a

non-void function

because it returns the computed value of the square to the caller, which can then be used in further computation or output.

Important Points

:

Void Functions

: Useful when you only need to perform an action like printing or updating a value.

Non-Void Functions

: Useful when you need the result of a computation to be used elsewhere in your program.

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