A method can return either nothing (void
), or a value of a specified type:
// If you don't want to return a value, use void as return type.
static void ReturnsNothing() {
Console.WriteLine("Returns nothing");
}
// If you want to return a value, you need to specify its type.
static string ReturnsHelloWorld() {
return "Hello World";
}
If your method specifies a return value, the method must return a value. You do this using the return
statement. Once a return
statement has been reached, it returns the specified value and any code after it will not be run anymore (exceptions are finally
blocks, which will still be executed before the method returns).
If your method returns nothing (void
), you can still use the return
statement without a value if you want to return from the method immediately. At the end of such a method, a return
statement would be unnecessary though.
Examples of valid return
statements:
return;
return 0;
return x * 2;
return Console.ReadLine();
Throwing an exception can end method execution without returning a value. Also, there are iterator blocks, where return values are generated by using the yield keyword, but those are special cases that will not be explained at this point.