[Gretl-devel] Re: function execution in 'if' statement

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020, Allin Cottrell wrote: > On Mon, 16 Mar 2020, Sven Schreiber wrote: > >> Hi Artur, I think your example could be much shorter: >> >> <hansl> >> function scalar printsth(void) >> print "hey" >> return 1 >> end function >> >> if printsth() # does not spit out "hey" >> endif >> </hansl> >> >> Frankly, don't know if it's by design, but could be I guess. > > The idea is that if printsth() is called in its own right we want to see > anything it might print, but if it's called under "if" then all we're > interested in is its return value. From that point of view, while the > "if-block" above is entered OK (which can be verified by putting a print > statement within it) it's empty and so nothing is printed. > > Admittedly one could make a case for showing printed output, if any, from a > function call regardless of whether it serves as a boolean switch. So far > as I know that's not an issue that has been raised to date, but it's open > for discussion. FWIW, the C translation of Sven's script <C> #include<stdio.h> int printsth() { printf("Hey\n"); return 1; } int main() { if(printsth()){ } } </C> does indeed print "Hey".