Named Return Values

Return values may be given names, and if they are, then they are treated the same as if they were new variables defined at the top of the function.

Named return values are best thought of as a way to document the purpose of the returned values.

A return statement without arguments returns the named return values. This is known as a "naked" return. Naked return statements should be used only in short functions. They can harm readability in longer functions.

— From the tour of go

Use naked returns if it's obvious what the purpose of the returned values is. Otherwise, use named returns for clarity.

Example: named return values (naked return)

func getCoords() (x, y int) {
	// x and y are initialized with zero values

	return // automatically returns x and y
}

This is equivalent to:

Example: explicit return values

func getCoords() (int, int) {
	var x int
	var y int
	return x, y
}

In the first example, x and y are the return values. At the end of the function, you can write return to return the values of those variables rather than writing return x, y.