In this post, we will see about SyntaxError: 'Return' Outside Function in Python.
This error will generally occur when you do not put the return statement indentation properly with function definition.
💡 Did you know?
Unlike C,C++ or java, Python uses whitespace for indentation. All statements which are at same distance on right belong to same block.
There can be two main reasons for this issue.
[toc]
Wrong indentation
Let’s see this with the help of example.
Here is simple function to get multiplication of two numbers.
def multiplicationOfNumber(x,y):
z=x*y
return z
print(multiplicationOfNumber(10,20))
When you execute above program, you will get below error.
File "", line 3 return z ^ SyntaxError: 'return' outside function
We are getting this error because return z is inline with def multiplicationOfNumber(x,y): but it should be in same block with z=x*y.
Let’s move return z to z=x*y block, you won’t see the error any more.
Below slider will help you understand it better.
[smartslider3 slider=4]
def multiplicationOfNumber(x,y):
z=x*y
return z
print(multiplicationOfNumber(10,20))
When you execute above program, you will get below error.
Return statement without defining function
Another reason for this error can be if you did not define a function and still using return statement.
x=10 y=20 z=x*y return z
When you execute above program, you will get below error.
File "", line 3 return z ^ SyntaxError: 'return' outside function
You can solve this error by putting statements in function as multiplicationOfNumber and correctly indenting return statement.
That’s all about SyntaxError: ‘Return’ Outside Function in Python
