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EXIT_SUCCESS, EXIT_FAILURE

From cppreference.com
< c‎ | program
 
C
 
Program support utilities
Program termination
EXIT_SUCCESSEXIT_FAILURE
Unreachable control flow
Communicating with the environment
Memory alignment query
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Defined in header <stdlib.h>
#define EXIT_SUCCESS /*implementation defined*/
#define EXIT_FAILURE /*implementation defined*/

The EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE macros expand into integral constant expressions that can be used as arguments to the exit function (and, therefore, as the values to return from the main function), and indicate program execution status.

Constant Description
EXIT_SUCCESS successful execution of a program
EXIT_FAILURE unsuccessful execution of a program

Contents

[edit] Notes

Both EXIT_SUCCESS and the value zero indicate successful program execution status (see exit), although it is not required that EXIT_SUCCESS equals zero.

[edit] Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    FILE* fp = fopen("data.txt", "r");
    if (fp == NULL)
    {
       fprintf(stderr, "fopen() failed in file %s at line #%d", __FILE__, __LINE__);
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
 
    /* Normal processing continues here. */
    fclose(fp);
    printf("Normal Return\n");
 
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Output:

fopen() failed in file main.cpp at line #9

[edit] References

  • C23 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2024):
  • 7.22/3 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: TBD)
  • C17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):
  • 7.22/3 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 248)
  • C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):
  • 7.22/3 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 340)
  • C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):
  • 7.20/3 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 306)
  • C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):
  • 4.10 General utilities <stdlib.h>

[edit] See also

C++ documentation for EXIT_SUCCESS, EXIT_FAILURE

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