javascript return true or return false when and how to use it?

Question

So I see a lot of JavaScript code (have written some myself) that does something like

Answer 1

Your code makes no sense, maybe because it's out of context.

If you mean code like this:

$('a').click(function () {
    callFunction();
    return false;
});

The return false will return false to the click-event. That tells the browser to stop following events, like follow a link. It has nothing to do with the previous function call. Javascript runs from top to bottom more or less, so a line cannot affect a previous line.

Answer 2

I think a lot of times when you see this code, it's from people who are in the habit of event handlers for forms, buttons, inputs, and things of that sort.

Basically, when you have something like:

<form onsubmit="return callSomeFunction();"></form>

or

<a href="#" onclick="return callSomeFunction();"></a>`

and callSomeFunction() returns true, then the form or a will submit, otherwise it won't.

Other more obvious general purposes for returning true or false as a result of a function are because they are expected to return a boolean.

Answer 3

returning true or false indicates that whether execution should continue or stop right there. So just an example

<input type="button" onclick="return func();" />

Now if func() is defined like this

function func()
{
 // do something
return false;
}

the click event will never get executed. On the contrary if return true is written then the click event will always be executed.