python - Returning variable from function and printing said variable -

i know newbie question bare me. in code below run blackjack game , want total hand (user or dealer's) function. when run code no errors appear, when call function, total hand value not printed. states "this provides total of:" , number blank. appreciated! see code below:

user_name = input("please enter name:")  print ("welcome table {}. let's deal!".format(user_name))  import random  suits = ["heart", "diamond", "spade", "club"]  ranks = ['a', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'j', 'q', 'k']  deck = [(suit, rank) rank in ranks suit in suits]  random.shuffle(deck,random.random)  user_hand = []  dealer_hand = []  user_hand.append(deck.pop())  dealer_hand.append(deck.pop())  user_hand.append(deck.pop())  dealer_hand.append(deck.pop())  def handtotal (hand):      total = 0      rank in hand:          if rank == "j" or "q" or "k":              total += 10          elif rank == 'a' , total < 11:              total += 11          elif rank == 'a' , total >= 11:              total += 1          elif rank == '2':              total += 2          elif rank == '3':              total += 3          elif rank == '4':              total += 4          elif rank == '5':              total += 5          elif rank == '6':              total += 6          elif rank == '7':              total += 7          elif rank == '8':              total += 8          elif rank == '9':              total += 9      return total      print (total)  print ("your current hand {}".format(user_hand))  print ("this provides total of:")  handtotal(user_hand) 

there's not point in putting print(total) after return total, because return causes function terminate , not evaluate lines following return statement*. instead, try putting print outside of function definition:

print ("this provides total of:")  print(handtotal(user_hand)) 

_{*(there corner cases try-except-finally blocks, true majority of time.)}