[Solved]What exactly do the "pass" and "return" keywords do?

[squark]

So, yeah; topic title.
It may seem like a simple question considering how long I've been active on these forums.
But for the life of me, I can't make my brain come up with a reasonable explanation.

Before I start throwing it into my code, I just want to be clear.

Something simpler as well; the "return" keyword baffles me, especially on its own, when it's not returning a variable.

EDIT: In clear English, please.

[Ayutac]

"pass" does nothing. It is indeed the clear instruction to do nothing. There are situations when this comes in handy, see example in next post (thanks, KimiYoriBaka).
Constructs like if always need a command after them, but if you literally want nothing to happen but have to give a command, pass is used. I just don't know if it's used in Python or Ren'Py xD

As for "return", it has different meanings. If used in Ren'Py, it returns the executing code to the point where you last used

Code: Select all

call labelName

where "labelName" is – who would have guessed it – the name of a label. However, if you have no "call" running at the moment, it returns to the game menu, so the actual game will be ended. Without asking to save, I might add. This return has a Python equivalent (end of post).
In Python "return" behaves different. It will simply return from the currently executing method to where the method was called from, occasionally returning a value which can be read. If no value is returned, you better try not to read anything.

Any questions left?

[KimiYoriBaka]

just thought I'd add an example of "pass" that's a bit more useful and relevant.

if you have a set of choices that may or may not actually cause something to happen, then you can use "pass" to tell renpy that you don't want a choice to do anything.

Code: Select all

menu:
    j "hey hey, watch me juggle these knives!!"

    "Watch him juggle":
        "The juggler successfully juggles a bunch of knives as I stare in awe."

    "Ignore him and continue walking":
        pass

"We continue walking."

[squark]

Thanks, guys. This makes it very easy to follow ^^