Execution of code in a function after the return statement has been accessed in c++

Question

I have the following function:

Class Image {

    IplImage* createImage( char* name )
    {
        IplImage* img = cvLoadImage( name );

        return img;

        ...
    }
}

int main() {
    IplImage* newimg = createImage( "somepath" );
    return 0;
}

After the createImage function is been executed I would like to know if there's a way to execute some code after the return statement has been accessed and the newimg has been populated with the contents of the img variable.

The above code is an example of what I want to achieve. My main question is: Is there any way I can execute code in a function even after the return statement has been reached?

Answer 1

NO! The return instruction does exactly that, it returns immediately. Whatever is after it won't be executed.

So if there's anything else you would like this function to do, you must add the code for these tasks before the function return:

IplImage* createImage( char* name )
{
    IplImage* img = cvLoadImage( name );

    // test if image was loaded and/or
    // do whatever else you feel you need to do
    // before:

    return img;
}

Remember, your function createImage() should be simple and perform as advertised: create an image.