What is 'return' keyword used for in C#?

Experience Level: Junior
Tags: C#

Answer

The 'return' keyword tells the computer that it's time to end the execution of a method and get out of it. The value that is on the right hand side from the 'return' keyword will be returned to the caller of the method. There are methods that don't return any value. Such methods must have return data type 'void' and don't need to have 'return' keyword in their body. If the return keyword is in method with return data type 'void', then there is no value on the right hand side from the 'return' keyword because there is noting to be returned.

In the following example, the first call to method WriteHello doesn't return any value because the return value data type in s void. The next call to the method GetNumber returns a number 7 that is then stored to the implicitly declared variable result.

Example
public class Program 
{
  public static void Main() 
  {
    WriteHello();
	var result = GetNumber();
  }
  
  public static void WriteHello() 
  {
    Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
  }
  
  public static int GetNumber() 
  {
    return 7;
  }
}

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