Hello Monks,

Well usually I am using the return statement to return either a scalar, array, hash etc. I am just wondering in cases such as the example bellow. There is nothing returning by the subroutine, so all the local variables in the subroutine will size to exist as soon as the subroutine will reach the end.

Sample code:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

sub subroutineWithReturnStatement {
    print shift;
}

subroutineWithReturnStatement("First Sample String as Input\n");

sub subroutineWithNoReturnStatement {
    print shift;
    return;
}

subroutineWithNoReturnStatement("Second Sample String as Input\n");

__DATA__

First Sample String as Input
Second Sample String as Input
[download]

From the perlsub->DESCRIPTION documentation I found the following part:

A return statement may be used to exit a subroutine, optionally specifying the returned value, which will be evaluated in the appropriate context (list, scalar, or void) depending on the context of the subroutine call. If you specify no return value, the subroutine returns an empty list in list context, the undefined value in scalar context, or nothing in void context. If you return one or more aggregates (arrays and hashes), these will be flattened together into one large indistinguishable list. If no return is found and if the last statement is an expression, its value is returned. If the last statement is a loop control structure like a foreach or a while , the returned value is unspecified. The empty sub returns the empty list.

So my question is, is there any difference in using return statement if there is nothing to return from a subroutine?

Update: based on replies of stevieb and Anonymous cleared out that is better to implicitly use a return; statement to clearly show where your subroutine ends and also to avoid implicit return data.