What does return do in Python when it's typed alone?

Question

For example, in
def print_nums(x):
for i in range(x):
print(i)
return
print_nums(10)

Answer 1

return just ends your function.

So already in i==0 the function will terminate and the rest of the loop will never be executed.

Unless you move return to the same indentation level as the for loop.

But that would be pointless, because a function returns automatically when it reaches its end.

You will normally use a single return in a function to stop its execution when a certain condition is reached, when you want to prevent it running on to its end.

So you could compare it to the break in a for loop in this case.

Oh yeah, and the simple return statement will still return something: None.

Answer 2

The output of that code comes 0, I'm confused why is that.

Answer 3

Because you loop over a range of ten that starts with zero, and only the zero is printed, then the function is returned from already.