== Why is this an issue?

Developers can use type hints to specify which type a function is expected to return. These annotations are not enforced at runtime and returning a different type might not fail. It is however likely to be unintended and will lead to maintainability issues, if not bugs.


This rule raises an issue when a function or method returns a value that contradicts its type hint.


=== Noncompliant code example

[source,python]
----
def hello() -> str:
    return 42  # Noncompliant. Function's type hint asks for a string return value
----


=== Compliant solution

[source,python]
----
def hello() -> str:
    return "Hello"
----


== Resources

* https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html[Python documentation - Support for type hints]

ifdef::env-github,rspecator-view[]

'''
== Implementation Specification
(visible only on this page)

=== Message

*Return a "XXX" instead of a "YYY" or update function "ZZZ" type hint.


=== Highlighting

* If the function returns the wrong type:
** Primary: The return statement
**  Secondaries: 1. the function name, 2. The type hint
* If the function might terminate without reaching a return statement:
** Primary Location: The function name
** Secondary: the type hint


endif::env-github,rspecator-view[]