Does return terminate the function?

Yes, the return statement in JavaScript (and many other programming languages) does indeed terminate the execution of a function.

When a return statement is encountered within a function, the following actions occur:

1. Value Return: If a value is specified after the return keyword, that value is passed back as the result of the function call.

2. Function Termination: The function's execution is immediately halted at that point. Any code that follows the return statement within the function will not be executed.

3. Control Transfer: The program's control flow returns to the point where the function was called.

Here's a simple example to illustrate this:

function exampleFunction() {
  console.log("This line will be executed.");
  return 10;
  console.log("This line will NOT be executed.");
}

let result = exampleFunction();
console.log("The function returned:", result);

In this example, the first console.log statement will execute, then the function will return the value 10 and terminate. The second console.log statement inside the function will never be reached. The output will be:

This line will be executed.
The function returned: 10

It's important to note that if a return statement is used without a value (just return;), the function will still terminate, but it will return undefined.

The return statement is crucial for controlling the flow of execution within functions and for passing results back to the calling code. Understanding how it works is fundamental to writing effective JavaScript code.

Learn more about this