What does the return keyword do in a void method in Java?
It just exits the method at that point. Once return is executed, the rest of the code won't be executed.
eg.
public void test(int n) { if (n == 1) { return; } else if (n == 2) { doStuff(); return; } doOtherStuff();}Note that the compiler is smart enough to tell you some code cannot be reached:
if (n == 3) { return; youWillGetAnError(); //compiler error here}
You can have return in a void method, you just can't return any value (as in return 5;), that's why they call it a void method. Some people always explicitly end void methods with a return statement, but it's not mandatory. It can be used to leave a function early, though:
void someFunct(int arg){ if (arg == 0) { //Leave because this is a bad value return; } //Otherwise, do something}