Is it possible to not return anything from a function in python? (What happens if the function reaches the end without `return`ing?)

Question

Consider this code:

def foo(foo_input):
    if 0 <= foo_input <= 100:
        return f_input

This returns None in the case where foo_input > 100. But could it actually not return anything? Or does a function always have to return something?

_{See also: return, return None, and no return at all?}

Asked By: beoliver

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Source

Answer 1

Functions always return something (at least None, when no return-statement was reached during execution and the end of the function is reached).

Another case is when they are interrupted by exceptions.
In this case exception handling will “dominate over the stack” and you will return to the appropriate except or get some nasty error 🙂

Regarding your problem I must say there are two possibilities:
Either you have something to return or you do not have.

If you have something to return then do so, if not then don’t.
If you rely on something being returned that has a certain type but you cannot return anything meaningful of this type then None will tell the caller that this was the case (
There is no better way to tell the caller that “nothing” is returned then by None, so check for it and you will be fine)

Answered By: Nobody moving away from SE

Answer 2

No. If a return statement is not reached before the end of the function then an implicit None is returned.

Answered By: Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

Answer 3

If a return statement is not reached, the function returns None.

def set_x():
    x = 2

Answered By: Billjk

Answer 4

I’m not sure what you really are trying to do. Here are a few things you might like:

def foo(foo_input, foo_default):
    if 0 <= foo_input <= 100:
        return f_input
    else:
        return foo_default


def foo(foo_input):
    if 0 <= foo_input <= 100:
        return f_input
    raise ValueError, "foo_input was not in range [0, 100]"

Wait, you said “filter”. Are you filtering a series of values and you just want to extract the ones that meet a criteria? That’s easy in Python:

def foo_check(x):
    return 0 <= x <= 100

filtered_list = [x for x in unfiltered_sequence if foo_check(x)]

And you said “chaining functions”. Again that’s easy if we are talking about filtering a sequence:

def foo_filter(seq):
    for x in seq:
        if 0 <= x <= 100:
            yield x

def other_filter(seq):
    for x in seq:
        if meets_criterion(x):
            yield x


def do_the_task(seq):
    for x in other_filter(foo_filter(seq)):
        do_something(x)

EDIT: Here is a nice introduction to iterators and generators in Python. http://www.learningpython.com/2009/02/23/iterators-iterables-and-generators-oh-my/

Answered By: steveha

Answer 5

I sort of like the implicit return None but pylint flags it as bad style, warning:

Either all return statements in a function should return an
expression, or none of them
should.pylint(inconsistent-return-statements)

Hence,

def foo(foo_input):
    if 0 <= foo_input <= 100:
        return f_input
    return None

might be better style, even if they are functionally the same.

More info available here, where the Pylint change-log states:

A new Python checker was added to warn about
inconsistent-return-statements. A function or a method has
inconsistent return statements if it returns both explicit and
implicit values …

According to PEP8, if any return statement returns an expression, any
return statements where no value is returned should explicitly state
this as return None, and an explicit return statement should be
present at the end of the function (if reachable).

Answered By: Dustin Michels

Answer 6

Functions always return something.

All 3 functions below return None:

def test1():
    print("test1")
    return None

def test2():
    print("test2")
    return

def test3():
    print("test3")

Answered By: Kai – Kazuya Ito

Is it possible to not return anything from a function in python? (What happens if the function reaches the end without `return`ing?)

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