Explanation of return

if i'm returning an int from a function and I want to return 0...why does this work

return (0); --> for false

return a; --> if a equals 0, return is still true and works fine but i don't know why it wouldn't return false instead?

Also, would return(a); work if a was 0? or would it return false?

Code:

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return <value>;

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That just returns whatever value is. It can be the value a variable holds, or an actual constant like you have when you return 0 directly. The only other confusion here I see is with regards to what is true and what is false. Anything that is not zero is considered true in a truth test.


Quzah.

so basically
a = 0;

return 0;
is different from
return a;
?

There's no difference. One takes the value of a and returns it, the other returns the value 0. So if a holds 0 then it is the value that is returned. If a doesn't hold 0 then of course it will be different.


Quzah.

but then how would

int delete (struct data_node **, int);

if(delete(&first, data)) //so how would this determine if I want to return value of int 0 as in TRUE, or just return 0 for FALSE?

That's up to you. You can check for any number.

Code:

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if( myfunction( ) == somevalue )

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If that function happens to return somevalue then that if check will be true. If it doesn't, it will be false.


Quzah.

right, but I'm trying to avoid using the "== somevalue" that you have there

so how do I return false if values from 0 to 100 are true and I still want to use if(myfunction()) without the == part that you have in your statment

The problem comes from this observation being false:

Quote:

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return a; --> if a equals 0, return is still true and works fine but i don't know why it wouldn't return false instead?

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As long as a equals zero then the result of the function call equates to false.
You were mistaken when you thought something showed otherwise.