return statement not returning values [closed] - c++

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emp* emp::check(string a,emp* ceo)
{
emp* l;
employee* b;
l=ceo;
if(l->name==a)
{
cout<<l->name;
return l;
}
b=l->j;
while (b!=NULL)
{
check(a,b->junior);
b=b->next;
}
}
void main()
{
l = check(d,ceo);
cout<<l->name;
}
now initially the value of l->name is being printed but finally in main value of l is not being returned.
this means that it is reaching the return statement but l is not being returned.
can someone explain why?

Answer 1

What is happening is this, it is matching in one of the recursive calls to check and you then discard the return value. You need to change the function to look like this:
emp* emp::check(string a,emp* ceo)
{
emp* l;
employee* b;
l=ceo;
if(l->name==a)
{
cout<<l->name;
return l;
}
b=l->j;
while (b!=NULL)
{
l = check(a,b->junior); // <----- line changed
if (l)
return l; // If we found something, return it.
b=b->next;
}
return 0; // <----- Always return a value
}
Also, there are various stylistic issues with your code, it would be clearer if you made changes something like this so that your variable and function names are useful:
emp* emp::findEmployeeByName(string name,emp* root)
{
if(root->name==a)
{
cout<<root->name;
return root;
}
// What on earth is ->j? Give your members meaningful names
for (employee* worker=l->j; worker; worker = worker->next)
{
emp* match = findEmployeeByName(name,worker->junior); // <----- line changed
if (match)
return match; // If we found something, return it.
}
return 0; // <----- Always return a value
}