Missing Return Statement,

[Khaly Silverman]

This was an example of code that I'm trying to get to work, I swear I took it down just as it was written in class however mine says missing return statement.... What is wrong with it....

 
	
	Scanner keyb = new Scanner(System.in); 
	System.out.print("enter rows and columns"); 
		int rows = keyb.nextInt(); 
		int cols = keyb.nextInt(); 
		
		int[] [] array = new int [rows] [cols]; 
		printArray(array);
	
	
	}
	
	public static int printArray(int[][] a){
		for (int i = 0; i<a.length; i++){ 
			for (int j = 0; j < a[i].length; j++){
			System.out.print(a[i][j]+"\t"); 			
			}
			System.out.println();
		} 
	}
	
	
	
}

[Paul Clapham]

    public static int printArray(int[][] a){ 

So here's the first line of the method which the compiler is complaining about. What does it mean? Well, starting at the beginning, it tells us the method is coderanch. And it tells us that the method is static. And it tells us that the method returns an int value.

And there's the problem. You don't have a return statement anywhere in the method which returns the int value that is supposed to be returned when you print an array.

But wait a minute. Why should printing an array return an int value? Why should it return anything at all? I think that's the actual problem you need to fix.

[Jacob Anawalt]

I can't comment on the rest of the code since it is incomplete but public static int printArray says it will return an int but it doesn't have any return statements.

[Khaly Silverman]

Thank-you, Problem solved, Should have been void, I actually did know that lol.