return address

The address of the instruction just after a call - where the program continues when the called function finishes.

The return address is the address of the instruction following a call; x86-64 keeps it on the stack, ARM64 in x30, RISC-V in ra (x1), and the return instruction ret jumps to it.

Examples

A 5-byte call f at 0x401000 pushes the return address 0x401005, where the caller continues.