What is the fundamental difference between 'print' and 'return' in programming?

The Formal Distinction Between "print" and "return"

In programming, the functions of "print" and "return" serve distinct purposes. "Print" is used to display information on the standard output stream, while "return" terminates the execution of a function and yields a value.

Consider the following example:

def funct1(param1):
    print(param1)
    return param1

In this function, "print(param1)" displays the value of "param1" to the console. The "return(param1)" statement then terminates the function and returns the value of "param1" to the calling function.

"Return" differs from "print" in two crucial ways:

Output Usage:

• "Print" displays its output directly to the standard output stream. This output cannot be used by other statements in the program.
• "Return" yields a value that can be assigned to a variable or used as an argument to another function.

Function Termination:

• "Print" does not terminate the execution of the function. Control continues to the next statement following "print".
• "Return" immediately terminates the function and returns control to the calling function.

To illustrate this further, consider the following code:

def main():
    ret = funct1(5)
    other = funct1(7)

    print("ret is: %s" % ret)
    print("other is: %s" % other)

This code calls "funct1" twice, passing different values. The output will be:

5
7
ret is: 5
other is: 7

The value returned by "funct1" in the first call is assigned to the variable "ret" and printed. Similarly, the value returned in the second call is assigned to "other" and printed.

In contrast to "print," "other" can be used to store or manipulate the value returned by "funct1."

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