Python: Multiple return values assigned to each function?

Question

def function_1():
  return (5)
  return (6)
  return(7)

result_1 = function_1() 
print(result_1)

Why is is that when I print the call of function_1(), only the first value, 5, is printed?

You haven't described your expected behaviour - what do you expect as output? — AChampion, Jun 30 '18 at 04:26
this post might help: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7129285/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-return-statement — Matthew Story, Jun 30 '18 at 04:26
Possible duplicate of [What is the purpose of the return statement?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7129285/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-return-statement) — Reblochon Masque, Jun 30 '18 at 04:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:20

0

You need to return multiple values as a tuple.

def function_1():
  return 5, 6, 7

result_1 = function_1() 
print(result_1)

a, b, c = function_1()
print(a, b, c)

This outputs:

(5, 6, 7)
5 6 7

answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:20

blhsing

91,368
6
71
106

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:21

When you're returning value 5 by this return (5) line then funtion_1 returns the value and terminates the function. That's why subsequent lines are not getting executed. If you want to return multiple values from a function then you can return them as a tuple,list etc. Like:

def function_1():
  return(5,6,7)

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:22

Why is is that when I print the call of function_1(), only the first value, 5, is printed?

Value "5" is getting printed because when you will call function_1 then function_1 will always return "5" and it wont execute next lines in that function. That's the reason you are always getting same value.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:24

0

You can use yield instead, making a generator. return stops the function execution. The code will be like:

def function_1():
    yield (5)
    yield (6)
    yield (7)

for result in function_1():
    print(result)

answered Jun 30 '18 at 04:24

Sianur

639
6
13

RoadRunner · Answer 5 · 2018-06-30T05:07:56.600

You function will terminate on the first successful return statement, which in this case is 5. As others have suggested, you could wrap these values in a tuple or a list. You could also return a dictionary containing these multiple values:

def function_1():
    return {'first': 5, 'second': 6, 'third': 7}

Then you can call it like this:

>>> result_1 = function_1()
>>> result_1
{'first': 5, 'second': 6, 'third': 7}
>>> result_1['first']
5
>>> result_1['second']
6
>>> result_1['third']
7

Python: Multiple return values assigned to each function?

5 Answers5