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I am currently looking into the Bitcoin script. I want to create a transaction with one output with OP_RETURN and some data, and one output which pays coins to some address. I am confused, does OP_RETURN mark the whole transaction as invalid or just the output.

I am especially confused because the wiki is not clear on this issue: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Script#Flow_control (says the whole transaction is marked as invalid) https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/OP_RETURN (says just the output is marked as invalid)

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Both.

Transaction output scripts are only executed at the time they are attempted to be spent.

If you try to spend an OP_RETURN output, the spending transaction is invalid, as this instruction immediately fails the execution.

As a result, OP_RETURN outputs (not the transactions they are in) are unspendable.

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  • But doesn't that actually mean only the information in the second link is correct? If I have a transaction with 2 outputs. One with a OP_RETURN and one with the standard paytopubhash script. I can still use the second output as an input for another transaction?
    – Martin
    Oct 29, 2016 at 12:28
  • Yes, you can spend the second output (if it's a standard pay-to-pubkey-hash script) by signing the spending transaction with the corresponding private key. The OP_RETURN one is permanently unspendable, so it is a good idea to send zero satoshis there. See this transaction blockchain.info/tx/… which is your exact use case. Notice the non-OP_RETURN output is marked spent, proving it's allowed.
    – maservant
    Oct 29, 2016 at 14:22
  • Both links are correct. But the first one is about a transaction that spends an OP_RETURN. The second one is about an output that creates an OP_RETURN.
    – Pieter Wuille
    Oct 29, 2016 at 17:45

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