how many return values can a function have in c++?

[jinjin12]

can i return more than one value from a function in c++? i've tried it myself and it does not work but maybe i am doing it wrong and there is a way to do it?

can i do like

int me()
{
int u = 5;
int tu = 6;

return u, tu


}

?

[blackcoder41]

pass it by reference;

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void foo(int& i, int& k) {
    i = 5;
    k = 6;
}


int main() {
    int me, you;
    foo(me, you);
    cout << me << endl;
    cout << you << endl;
    return 0;
}

EDIT: by the way a function can only return one value

[jinjin12]

question answered thanks....so i guess there is really no way to return two values at once huh.

[m4ster r0shi]

so i guess there is really no way to return two values at once huh.

Well... there actually is... consider this example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

struct foo_return_type
{
       int a;
       int b;
};

foo_return_type foo()
{
    foo_return_type fret;
    
    fret.a=12;
    fret.b=34;
    
    return fret;
}

int main()
{
    foo_return_type result;
    
    result=foo();
    
    cout << result.a << endl;
    cout << result.b << endl;
    
    cin.get();
    return 0;
}

But if what you want to return is big in size, it would be better to pass it as an argument by reference (as blackcoder41 also suggests) like this:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

struct foo_return_type
{
       int a;
       int b;
       int c[10];
};

void foo(foo_return_type & fret)
{
    fret.a=12;
    fret.b=34;
    
    for (int i=0; i<10; i++)
        fret.c[i]=i+1;
    
    return;
}

int main()
{
    foo_return_type result;
    
    foo(result);
    
    cout << result.a << endl;
    cout << result.b << endl;
    
    for (int i=0; i<10; i++)
        cout << result.c[i] << ' ';
    
    cout << endl;
    
    cin.get();
    return 0;
}

[blackcoder41]

it can only still return one foo_return_type

[m4ster r0shi]

it can only still return one foo_return_type

Yeap! But two values are returned ;)

[m4ster r0shi]

To sum up, a good way to pass a bunch of arguments to a function and get another bunch of returned values would be the following:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

struct foo_argument
{
       //put the definitions u want here
       //...
};

struct foo_return_value
{
       //put the definitions u want here
       //...
};

void foo(foo_argument & farg, foo_return_value & fret)
{
    //do what you want here
    //...
}

int main()
{
    foo_argument foo_in;
    foo_return_value foo_out;
    
    //set the arguments
    //...
    
    //call foo
    foo(foo_in,foo_out);

    //do what you want with the returned values
    //...

    return 0;
}

[abhi201090]

Similar to C , in c++ also u can return only one value