<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<link rel=
"STYLESHEET" href=
"ref.css" type='text/css'
/>
<link rel=
"SHORTCUT ICON" href=
"../icons/pyfav.png" type=
"image/png" />
<link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python Documentation Index'
/>
<link rel=
"first" href=
"ref.html" title='Python Reference Manual'
/>
<link rel='contents' href='contents.html'
title=
"Contents" />
<link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index'
/>
<link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...'
/>
<link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...'
/>
<link rel=
"next" href=
"yield.html" />
<link rel=
"prev" href=
"print.html" />
<link rel=
"parent" href=
"simple.html" />
<link rel=
"next" href=
"yield.html" />
<meta name='aesop' content='information'
/>
<title>6.7 The return statement
</title>
<div id='top-navigation-panel' xml:id='top-navigation-panel'
>
<table align=
"center" width=
"100%" cellpadding=
"0" cellspacing=
"2">
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"prev" title=
"6.6 The print statement"
href=
"print.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Previous Page' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"parent" title=
"6. Simple statements"
href=
"simple.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Up One Level' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"next" title=
"6.8 The yield statement"
href=
"yield.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Next Page' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td align=
"center" width=
"100%">Python Reference Manual
</td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"contents" title=
"Table of Contents"
href=
"contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Contents' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><img src='../icons/blank.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='' width='
32'
/></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"index" title=
"Index"
href=
"genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Index' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<div class='online-navigation'
>
<b class=
"navlabel">Previous:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"prev" href=
"print.html">6.6 The print statement
</A>
<b class=
"navlabel">Up:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"parent" href=
"simple.html">6. Simple statements
</A>
<b class=
"navlabel">Next:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"next" href=
"yield.html">6.8 The yield statement
</A>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
<H1><A NAME=
"SECTION008700000000000000000"></A><A NAME=
"return"></A>
6.7 The
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> statement
<a id='l2h-
506' xml:id='l2h-
506'
></a>
<div class=
"productions">
<td><a id='tok-return_stmt' xml:id='tok-return_stmt'
>return_stmt
</a></td>
<td>"return" [
<a class='grammartoken'
href=
"exprlists.html#tok-expression_list">expression_list
</a>]
</td></tr>
<a class=
"grammar-footer"
href=
"grammar.txt" type=
"text/plain"
>Download entire grammar as text.
</a>
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> may only occur syntactically nested in a function
definition, not within a nested class definition.
<a id='l2h-
507' xml:id='l2h-
507'
></a><a id='l2h-
508' xml:id='l2h-
508'
></a>
If an expression list is present, it is evaluated, else
<code>None
</code>
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> leaves the current function call with the expression
list (or
<code>None
</code>) as return value.
When
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> passes control out of a
<tt class=
"keyword">try
</tt> statement
with a
<tt class=
"keyword">finally
</tt> clause, that
<tt class=
"keyword">finally
</tt> clause is executed
before really leaving the function.
<a id='l2h-
509' xml:id='l2h-
509'
></a>
In a generator function, the
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> statement is not allowed
to include an
<a class='grammartoken'
href=
"exprlists.html#tok-expression_list">expression_list
</a>. In that context, a bare
<tt class=
"keyword">return
</tt> indicates that the generator is done and will cause
<tt class=
"exception">StopIteration
</tt> to be raised.
<div class='online-navigation'
>
<table align=
"center" width=
"100%" cellpadding=
"0" cellspacing=
"2">
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"prev" title=
"6.6 The print statement"
href=
"print.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Previous Page' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"parent" title=
"6. Simple statements"
href=
"simple.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Up One Level' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"next" title=
"6.8 The yield statement"
href=
"yield.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Next Page' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td align=
"center" width=
"100%">Python Reference Manual
</td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"contents" title=
"Table of Contents"
href=
"contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Contents' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><img src='../icons/blank.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='' width='
32'
/></td>
<td class='online-navigation'
><a rel=
"index" title=
"Index"
href=
"genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
border='
0' height='
32' alt='Index' width='
32'
/></A></td>
<div class='online-navigation'
>
<b class=
"navlabel">Previous:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"prev" href=
"print.html">6.6 The print statement
</A>
<b class=
"navlabel">Up:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"parent" href=
"simple.html">6. Simple statements
</A>
<b class=
"navlabel">Next:
</b>
<a class=
"sectref" rel=
"next" href=
"yield.html">6.8 The yield statement
</A>
<span class=
"release-info">Release
2.4.2, documentation updated on
28 September
2005.
</span>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
See
<i><a href=
"about.html">About this document...
</a></i> for information on suggesting changes.