What does the ' return x ' do?

Question

int func (int&x, int&y, int&z){
x=7;
y=8;
z=9;
return x;
}
int main (){
int a=1, b=2, c=3;
c=func(b,a,c);
cout<<a<<b<<c;
return 0;
}

// outputs 877

Based on my understanding, x is b's reference, y is a's reference, and z is c's reference.
As references x, y and z are assigned new values, so are b, a and c (7, 8 and 9 respectively).

Then comes in a ' return x '

What does ' return x ' do here?

I'd expected 879 instead of 877. What happened to the 9?

Answer 1

c is reassigned as the value of output of the function (c=func(a,b,c)), which is 7.

My hunch is that the function does exactly as you'd expect, but you had just missed this little detail.