# Why doesn't this function return anything?

**URL:** <https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501>\
**Category:** Curriculum Help\
**Tags:** javascript\
**Created:** [October 9, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501 "2019-10-09T11:52:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![El\_Escandalo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d6d6ee/32.png) [@El\_Escandalo](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/El_Escandalo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/1 "2019-10-09T11:52:49Z")

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I’m practicing simple JS functions but don’t understand why this function doesn’t return `area`:

```auto
function rectangleArea(width, height) {
  let area = width * height;
  return area;
}
rectangleArea(5, 7)

```

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**Author:** ![M-Michelini](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/m-michelini/32/109586_2.png) [@M-Michelini](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/M-Michelini)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/2 "2019-10-09T11:57:39Z")

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Just tested it, it works fine. Maybe show more of you code?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dev-313](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/dev-313/32/125293_2.png) [@dev-313](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/dev-313)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/3 "2019-10-09T11:58:44Z")

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Hello @El_Escandalo 😀

This _rectangleArea() function_ is working fine.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![El\_Escandalo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d6d6ee/32.png) [@El\_Escandalo](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/El_Escandalo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/4 "2019-10-09T12:10:10Z")

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@M-Michelini Thanks. That’s all the code. I have it in Codepen and when I click “run”, it produces nothing- neither an output nor an error. It should log to the console right? (it’s not logging to the console or the page)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![M-Michelini](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/m-michelini/32/109586_2.png) [@M-Michelini](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/M-Michelini)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/5 "2019-10-09T12:20:20Z")

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you want `console.log(rectangleArea(5, 7))`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![El\_Escandalo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d6d6ee/32.png) [@El\_Escandalo](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/El_Escandalo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/6 "2019-10-09T12:33:13Z")

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> [@M-Michelini](#):
>
> console.log(rectangleArea(5, 7

Ok so the return function does not actually log to the console on its own?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![M-Michelini](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/m-michelini/32/109586_2.png) [@M-Michelini](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/M-Michelini)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/7 "2019-10-09T12:38:00Z")

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That’s right, except return is a keyword not a function.

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**Author:** ![austinmoore1492](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/austinmoore1492/32/131573_2.png) [@austinmoore1492](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/austinmoore1492)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/8 "2019-10-09T12:39:04Z")

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You are correct, the return function is going to stop the function from executing and return a value from that function but it doesn’t log anything to the console.

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**Author:** ![ILM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/ilm/32/363239_2.png) [@ILM](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/ILM)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/why-doesnt-this-function-return-anything/320501/10 "2021-01-25T11:58:34Z")

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