How to return a message in a boolean method?

Question

I am looking to return a message other than true or false using a boolean method. Is that possible to do without displaying the true, or false?
private boolean search(Node node, int id){
          if (node == null)
               return false;
          else if (id == node.id){
               return true;
          else if (id < node.id){
               return search(node.left, id);
          else
               return search(node.right, id);
     }In this snippet I would like to return a message rather than true or false.
My idea was to put the println statement just before the return, but that leaves me with a true or false being displayed.
I also thought i could use an if statement in my main:
public class studentTest {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          StudentDatabase data = new StudentDatabase();
          System.out.println(data.insert(7066, "Pianczk", 25, 4.0));
          System.out.println(data.insert(7067, "Pianczk", 25, 4.0));
          data.insert(756, "Pia", 78, 3.5);
          boolean result;
          result = data.search(7066);
          if (result){
               System.out.print("")
}the problem with this is I can't reach the info I would like to print out.(or at least I don't know how)

Answer 1

I figured it out.
I thought I tried this once already, but must not have done it correctly.
private boolean search(Node node, int id){
          if (node == null){
               return false;
          else if (id == node.id){
               System.out.print("Student info: " + node.id + " " + node.lastName + " " + node.age + " " + node.gpa);
               return true;
          else if (id < node.id){
               return search(node.left, id);
          else
               return search(node.right, id);
public static void main(String[] args) {
          StudentDatabase data = new StudentDatabase();
          System.out.println(data.insert(7066, "Pianczk", 25, 4.0));
          System.out.println(data.insert(7067, "Pianczk", 25, 4.0));
          data.insert(756, "Pianc", 78, 3.5);
          int id = 7065;
          boolean result;
          result = data.search(id);
          if (result)
               System.out.println("");
          else
               System.out.print("Your ID " + id + " was not found");
}this works, although I am not sure if this is the optimal way of doing it.