Thread: What does "return" do?

I can't quite understand what returning values does. It sounds (to me) like it gives functions a value. Like, returning the variable "a", which is an int value, at the end of a function will make the whole function be type int. But I know that's not what it does.

Can someone give an easy-to-understand explanation of what "return" does and why I need to use it? I've read explanations (in books and such) of what it does before, but they don't make sense to me, and I know I'll need to understand it's use later on.