Return Values

The return statement sends a result back from a function to the caller. It also acts as a hard stop — once a function hits a return, execution ends immediately.

Early Exit (Short-Circuiting)​

Use return inside a conditional to bail out early before running the main logic. This avoids deep nesting and makes the intent clear.

def chai_status(cups: int = 0):
    if cups == 0:
        return "Sorry, chai over"  # Early exit

    return "Chai is ready"
    print("This will never be printed")

print(chai_status(0))
print(chai_status(5))

Output:

Sorry, chai over
Chai is ready

Returning Multiple Values​

Python lets us return multiple values separated by commas. They are automatically packed into a tuple, so the caller gets one object back.

def chai_report():
    return 100, 20  # (sold, remaining)

sold, remains = chai_report()
print(f"Sold: {sold}, Remaining: {remains}")

Output:

Sold: 100, Remaining: 20

Unpacking Pitfalls​

Unpacking requires the exact number of variables as values in the tuple. Use _ to discard values we don't need.

def chai_report_long():
    return 100, 20, 10  # (sold, remaining, waste)

# Ignore the last value
sold, remains, _ = chai_report_long()