The return statement is only capable of returning one object, sorry for the disappointment. But the object returned can literally be of any valid type, this means that we can also return collections of items such as lists, tuples etc. We can simulate the return statement to look like it is returning multiple values by using the tuple data type. For example:
def sumprod(a, b):
"""Returns sum and the product of a and b."""
sum = a + b
prod = a * b
return sum, prod
s, p = sumprod(5, 6)
print(s)
//11
print(p)
//30
The parentheses around the items in a tuple are optional, this makes the return statement look like it is actually returning multiple values. You should, however, remember to unpack the returned tuple into variables when calling the function.
Example 2:
def min_max(nums):
"""Returns the minimum and maximum numbers in a sequence such as list."""
minimum = nums[0]
maximum = nums[0]
for num in nums:
if num < minimum:
minimum = num
elif num > maximum:
maximum = num
return minimum, maximum
a, b = min_max([7, 9, 11, 0, -1, 3, 5, 2, 8, 10])
print(a)
//-1
print(b)
//11
You can also use a list or any other capable object instead of a tuple to return multiple values. However, tuples are generally more efficient and lightweight, making them more suited in this case. The fact that we can use tuples without the enclosing brackets also makes them look more natural in returning multiple values.
