Can I use return in hooks safely ?

[Z.]

Hi,
I always wondered if I could just use
if SOME_CONDITION then return end in my hooks without breaking anything ?
Thanks,

[PaperTiger]

Yes, you can do that.

[LoweChaser]

Why don't you try it first?

[Z.]

I tried it and it didn't break anything LoweChaser, but i wanted to know if it was ok.

[MrManiak]

When you use return without any arguments, you are essentially returning nil. A function with no return instruction returns nil. From the outside, your hook just looks like any hook.

[c👌de_g🎷]

Returning nil vs nothing is actually different - while this usually won't affect Lua->Lua function calls, it can affect C->Lua calls. This behaviour can be seen with:
local function f1()
return
end

local function f2()
return nil
end

print(type(f1())) -- no value
print(type(f2())) -- nil
Won't affect hooks but there is a difference.

[MrManiak]

What the fuck

[bigdogmat]

You can see the difference in Lua when using select,

print(select('#', f1())) -- 0
print(select('#', f2())) -- 1