Can a C++ function return more than one value? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Most of the answers here are correct that you should return a struct. There is one more way if you are interested, and that is by sending reference of the variables that you want to return.

For example:

#include<iostream>
#include<cstdio>
using namespace std;
bool f(int a,int b,int& q,int& r)
{
    if(b==0)return 0;
    q=a/b;
    r=a%b;
    return 1;
}

int main()
{
    int a=64,b=7,q,r;
    bool pos=f(a,b,q,r);
    if(pos)
    {
        printf("Quotient = %d Remainder = %d\n",q,r);
    }
    else
    {
        printf("Divison by zero not possible!\n");
    }
    return 0;
}

Answer 2

A C++ function can return only one value. However, you can return multiple values by wrapping them in a class or struct.

struct Foo
{
     int value1;
     int value2;
};

Foo SomeFunction()
{
    Foo result = { 5, 4 };
    return result;
}

Or you could use std::tuple, if that is available with your compiler.

#include <tuple>

std::tuple<int, int, int> SomeFunction()
{
    return std::make_tuple(5, 4, 3);
}

If you don't know in advance how many values you're going to return, a std::vector or a similar container is your best bet.

You can also return multiple values by having pointer or reference arguments to your function and modifying them in your function, but I think returning a compound type is generally speaking a "cleaner" approach.

Answer 3

Or you could use std::pair for two results and look at boost::tuple for more than two. It can even handle different types in the same tuple.

Answer 4

No, but there are two ways to do that:

1) Give the pointers to the values to "return" as parameters, you change the value of it in the function.

2) You may create a struct that contains all these values and return the struct. Use this only if it is really necessary, though, the fist solution is much better.

Answer 5

You can't. You can, however, do tricks to fake it. For example, make your function return a pointer to int, and returning the pointer to an array of ints.

Answer 6

It is possible to return more than one values from a function you have to use pointer for that case. Also this is possible by using the pointer arguments pointer arguments keep their value' Detailed usage of pointer for returning more than one value is at http://www.techyv.com/questions/how-do-i-return-multiple-variables-c-function