Difference between return and print in Python

In Python, we may use the print statements to display the final output of a code on the console, whereas the return statement returns a final value of a function execution which may be used further in the code. In this article, we will learn about Python return and print statements.

Return Statement in Python

Python return statement is used to exit the function and return a value. The return keyword is used to specify a value that a function should return when a function is called. It performs some calculations or operations and then returns the value or a set of values to the calling code.

Syntax of Return Statement

def function_name(parameters):
    # The function body
    return value

Example:

In this example, we can see that when the ‘add_number’ function is called, it returns the sum of ‘a’ and ‘b’, which is stored in the result variable. Then using the print statement, the result is printed on the console.

Python3

def add_numbers(a, b):
    return a + b

result = add_numbers(7, 9)
print(result)

Output:

16

Print Statement in Python

The print statement is a built-in function in Python that is used to display output to the console or terminal.

Syntax of Print Statement

print(*objects, sep=' separator', end='\n', file=sys.stdout, flush=False)

Example:

In this example, we can see that the ‘greet’ function does not return any value but simply prints the value using the print statement when it is called.

Python3

def greet(name):
    print("Hello, %s!" % name)

greet("ABC")

Output:

Hello, ABC!

Difference between Return and Print Statement in Python

Let us see the difference between the Python return and Python Print statement.

Return Statement	Print Statement
It is used to exit a function and return a value	It is used to display output to the console
It returns a value that can be assigned to a variable or used in any expression	It displays output to the console but does not return the value
It can be used multiple times in a function but only one value can be returned at a time	It can be used multiple times in a function but does not affect the function’s return value
Exiting the function with return ends the function and control returns to calling code	The print does not affect program flow and execution continues normally
Example: return sum in a function that calculates the sum of two numbers	Example: print(“Hello, world!”) to display a message on the console