Strange print output for Python function return

Question

I'm a newbie who just starting out. I have been playing around with function and I can't understand why I get the output below from the code below:

Why doesn't it print the return value as well as text from a function in continuous lines, why does the output look like it is looping through the functions twice?

def add(a, b):
 print "ADDING %d + %d" % (a, b)
 return a + b
def subtract(a, b):
 print "SUBTRACTING %d - %d" % (a, b)
 return a - b
def multiply(a, b):
 print "MULTIPLYING %d * %d" % (a, b)
 return a * b
plus = add(1,1)
minus = subtract(1,1)
times = multiply(1,1)
print plus
print minus
print times

The output I get is:

ADDING 1 + 1
SUBTRACTING 1 - 1
MULTIPLYING 1 * 1
2
0
1

• Klaus D.: That's the execution order of your program. First you call all the functions, then you print the results.

Answer 1

Your code is written this way. First you execute all three functions. Then you print the results of all three functions.

plus = add(1,1) # ADDING 1 + 1
minus = subtract(1,1) # SUBTRACTING 1 - 1
times = multiply(1,1) # MULTIPLYING 1 * 1
print plus # 2
print minus # 0
print times # 1

If you want the results interleaved with the calculations, then interleave them.

plus = add(1,1) # ADDING 1 + 1
print plus # 2
minus = subtract(1,1) # SUBTRACTING 1 - 1
print minus # 0
times = multiply(1,1) # MULTIPLYING 1 * 1
print times # 1