Return Statement:
A keyword return is used to terminate function and return a value to its caller. The return statement might also be used to exit a function without returning a value.  The return statement might or might not involve an expression.
The common form of the return statement is.
return;
return ( expression);
The return can appear anywhere inside the function body.  A function could also have more than one return while it is good programming style for a function to have a one entrance and one exit.
Example:
return;
 
return (45);
 
return ( x + y);
 
return (++j);
 
return 0;
 
return i++
A return declaration ends the execution of the function and pass on the control back to the calling environment.
Example:
1.         int sum (int a, int b)
 
{
 
return(a+b); // return integer value.
 
}
 
float maximum (float a, float b)
 
{
 
if (a>b)
 
return a;
 
else
 
return b;
 
}// return floating point value.
Sample program:
// by using several return statements in a function
 
// source program name: funct2.cpp
 
# include<iostream.h>
 
void main (void)
 
{
 
float maximum( float, float, float);
 
float x,y,z,max;
 
cout<<" enter three numbers \n";
 
cin>> x >> y >> z;
 
max = maximum(x,y,z);
 
cout << "maximum " << max;
 
}
 
float maximum (float a, float b, float c)
 
{
 
if ( a>b)
 
{
 
if (a>c)
 
return (a);
 
else
 
return (c);
 
}
 
else
 
{
 
if ( b>c)
 
return ( b);
 
else
 
return ( c);
 
}
 
}// end of function
 
output of the program is
enter three numbers
4 5 6
maximum = 6