Missing return statement while returning object or null

Question

I'm a student, this is an exercise and this is the goal of this method: This method should return the first element of the Athlete array that has a name matching the name parameter. If there is no matching Athlete, return null.

For some reason, i'm getting this error,

TestAthletes.java:15: error: missing return statement
 }

This is my code:

public class TestAthletes{

   public static Athlete findAthleteByName(Athlete[] athletes, String name){
        for(int i=0; i<athletes.length; i++){
            if(name.equals(athletes[i].getName()))
                return athletes[i];
            else
                return null;
        }
    }
}

Can't figure out what the problem is.

If the array is empty, you never return.

SLaks
– SLaks

2013-04-03 02:27:25 +00:00
Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 2:27 — SLaks
– SLaks, Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 2:27

Chris Gerken · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 02:25:28Z

3

The compiler is telling you that if by some chance you get to the end of the method, there's no return statement to return anything.

Not that your code is doing what you want it to do, but regardless, you should put a return statement, probably:

return null;

at the end of the method block.

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 2:25

Chris Gerken

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Comments

srikanta · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 02:25:59Z

2

You need to have a return statement after the for loop too because athletes.length can be 0 which means that the body of the for loop never gets executed.

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 2:25

srikanta

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Comments

Yuushi · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 02:26:02Z

1

Your return null statement should be outside the loop. Currently it will return null if the first value doesn't match.

public static Athlete findAthleteByName(Athlete[] athletes, String name){
    for(int i=0; i<athletes.length; i++){
        if(name.equals(athletes[i].getName()))
            return athletes[i];
    }
    return null;
}

Trace through what currently happens. You test athletes[0] the first time round the for loop. If it doesn't match, the if fails, it executes else, returning null.

Further, if the array is 0 length, nothing in the for loop will execute, hence it will never return.

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 2:26

Yuushi

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Comments

Nicu Stiurca · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 02:25:44Z

1

I think you meant the following

public class TestAthletes{

   public static Athlete findAthleteByName(Athlete[] athletes, String name){
        for(int i=0; i<athletes.length; i++){
            if(name.equals(athletes[i].getName()))
                return athletes[i];
        }
        return null;
    }
}

In your original code, if athletes.length is 0, then your loop never executes, and the code reaches the end of the function without returning anything.

Also, I presume you only want to return null if you didn't find a match at any iteration, so that's why I moved that return statement after the loop.

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 2:25

Nicu Stiurca

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