Thread: error: missing return statement

I am getting this error and I'm not quite sure why...

java:69: error: missing return statement
}
^

That's the entire error, and here is the code:

	public int get (String s)
	{
		final int notfound = -1;
 
		if (head == null)
		{
			System.out.println (notfound);
		}
		else
		{
			ListNode current = head;
			while (current.next != null)
			{
				if (current.thepair.getString() == s)
				{
					System.out.println(current.thepair.getInt());
				}
				current = current.next;
			}
		}
		System.out.println (notfound);
	}

So basically, this is part of a linked list. Each node in the list stores a pair (an integer and a string).
The get() method takes a string and traverses the list until it finds a pair which contains the same string.
If the list is empty, or if the string isn't found, it returns -1. If it finds the string, however, it returns the integer that is paired with it.

Any help would be much appreciated.
thanks!

Hello again Norm, and thanks for the response.

I thought that might be the case, but as far as I can tell this method can return nothing but an int.

if the list is empty (head == null), it returns notfound (final int -1).
else, the list is traversed (while the next node !=null) if during this traversal a match is found, the method getInt() is called (returning an int).
if the while loop is exited, notfound is returned, as this means that the end of the list has been reached without a match being found.

I am so confused!

--- Update ---

I just edited the method slightly;

	public int get (String s)
	{
		final int notfound = -1;
 
		if (head == null)
		{
			return notfound;
		}
		else
		{
			ListNode current = head;
			while (current.next != null)
			{
				if (current.thepair.getString() == s)
				{
					System.out.println(current.thepair.getInt());
				}
				current = current.next;
			}
			return notfound;
		}
	}

So now the notfounds are returned rather than printed.

The code compiles now, but when I test the method with the following statements:

	{
		PairList list = new PairList();
 
		list.get ("name");
 
		System.out.println("The List : ");
 
		list.add (new Pair("name",5));
		list.add (new Pair("jim",20));
		list.add (new Pair("cat",8));
		list.add (new Pair("word",4));
		list.add (new Pair("string",6));
		list.print();
 
		list.get ("name");
		list.get ("nameee");
		list.get ("string");
	}

The output I get is:

name5
jim20
cat8
word4
string6
5

But according to what the code should be doing, I am missing two -1s and a 6!!

Originally Posted by Norm

The code needs to do something with the int value returned by the get() method. The get() method is called three times and ignores what is returned all three times. You could assign what is returned to an int variable that could then be tested and used later in the program.

But why would the code ignore 3 out of 4 of the get() tests? it returns the "name" integer when called the second time, but not the "string" integer or the two notfounds!

also, if I swap the list.get("string"); statement with the second list.get("name") statement, nothing is returned, leading me to believe that my traversal system is somehow flawed...

I'm going to try alter the get() method as I don't understand what is going on here. All I'm trying to do is test whether the list actually works, the output that I need printed out is simply so that I can test it!