The Benefits of Named Returns

Named return parameters are great for documenting a function. We know what the function is returning directly from its signature, no need for a comment.

Named return parameters are particularly important in longer functions with many return values.

func calculator(a, b int) (mul, div int, err error) {
    if b == 0 {
      return 0, 0, errors.New("can't divide by zero")
    }
    mul = a * b
    div = a / b
    return mul, div, nil
}

Which is easier to understand than:

func calculator(a, b int) (int, int, error) {
    if b == 0 {
      return 0, 0, errors.New("can't divide by zero")
    }
    mul := a * b
    div := a / b
    return mul, div, nil
}

We know the meaning of each return value just by looking at the function signature: func calculator(a, b int) (mul, div int, err error)

nil is the zero value of an error. More on this later.

If there are multiple return statements in a function, you don't need to write all the return values each time when using named returns — this is called a naked return. Naked returns should only be used in short and simple functions.