@return

Description

The @return tag is used to document the return value of functions or methods. @returns is an alias for @return to support tag formats of other automatic documentors

datatype should be a valid PHP type, a class name or "mixed." If a class name is used in the @return tag, phpDocumentor will automatically create a link to that class's documentation. In addition, if a function returns multiple possible values, separate them using the | character, and phpDocumentor will parse out any class names in the return value. phpDocumentor will display the optional description unmodified

Example

Here's an example:

1. /**
2.  * example of basic @return usage
3.  * @return mixed 
4.  */
5. function function1($baz)
6. {
7.    if ($baz)
8.    {
9.       $a = 5;
10.    } else
11.    {
12.       $a = array(1,4);
13.    }
14.    return $a;
15. }
16.  
17. class class1
18. {
19.    /**
20.     * example of documenting a method, and using optional description with @return
21.     * @return string de-html_entitied string (no entities at all)
22.     */
23.    function bar($foo)
24.    {
25.       return strtr($foo,array_flip(get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES)));
26.    }
27.    
28.    /**
29.     * example of using @return with a class name
30.     * @param integer even or odd integer
31.     * @return Parser|falsephpDocumentor Parser object or error
32.     */
33.    function &factory($number)
34.    {
35.       $returnval = true;
36.       if ($number % 2)
37.       {
38.           $returnval = new Parser;
39.       } else
40.       {
41.           $returnval = false;
42.       }
43.       return $returnval;
44.    }
45. }