JavaScript SyntaxError - Return not in function

This JavaScript exception return (or yield) not in function occurs if a return/yield statement is written outside the body of function.

Message:

SyntaxError: 'return' statement outside of function (Edge)
SyntaxError: return not in function (Firefox)
SyntaxError: yield not in function (Firefox)

Error Type:

SyntaxError

What happened?

Either the return or yield statement is called outside the body of the function or there might be a missing curly bracket in the code.

Example 1: In this example, there is a missing curly bracket after the ‘if’ statement, so the error has occurred.

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html> 
<head> 
<title>Syntax Error</title> 
</head> 
<body> 
    <script> 
    var GFG = function(val) { 
      if (val === 'GFG') 
        return 'Text1'; 
      };  
       /* looks like function ends here, because of 
       missing opening curly bracket after 'if' keyword*/ 
      if (val === 'Geek') { 
        return 'Text2'; 
      } 
    } 
    document.write(GFG()); 
    </script> 
</body> 
</html>

Output(In console):

SyntaxError: 'return' statement outside of function

Example 2: In this example, the return statement is written after the function has ended, So the error has occurred.

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html> 
<head> 
<title>Syntax Error</title> 
</head> 
<body> 
    <script> 
    var GFG = function(val) { 
      if (val === 'GFG') 
        return 'Text1'; 
      if (val === 'Geek') { 
        return 'Text2'; 
      } 
    }; 
    return "Text3";  
  // this is outside the function body. 
    document.write(GFG('GFG')); 
    </script> 
</body> 
</html>

Output(In console):

SyntaxError: 'return' statement outside of function

My Personal Notes

JavaScript SyntaxError – Return not in function

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