xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2 (revision 134c7dc5fa50b9e3c5c856700fea1fdfd3d950a8)
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30.\"     @(#)_exit.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
31.\"
32.Dd October 17, 2022
33.Dt EXIT 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm _Exit, _exit
37.Nd terminate the calling process
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In stdlib.h
42.Ft void
43.Fn _Exit "int status"
44.In unistd.h
45.Ft void
46.Fn _exit "int status"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn _Exit
50and
51.Fn _exit
52functions are equivalent.
53They each terminate a process with the following consequences:
54.Bl -bullet
55.It
56All of the descriptors open in the calling process are closed.
57This may entail delays, for example, waiting for output to drain;
58a process in this state may not be killed, as it is already dying.
59.It
60If the parent process of the calling process has an outstanding
61.Xr wait 2
62call
63or catches the
64.Dv SIGCHLD
65signal,
66it is notified of the calling process's termination and
67the
68.Em status
69is set as defined by
70.Xr wait 2 .
71(Note that only the least significant 8 bits of
72.Em status
73are preserved and returned to the parent via
74.Xr wait 2 . )
75.It
76The parent process-ID of all of the calling process's existing child
77processes are set to 1; the initialization process
78(see the DEFINITIONS section of
79.Xr intro 2 )
80inherits each of these processes.
81.It
82If the termination of the process causes any process group
83to become orphaned (usually because the parents of all members
84of the group have now exited; see
85.Dq orphaned process group
86in
87.Xr intro 2 ) ,
88and if any member of the orphaned group is stopped,
89the
90.Dv SIGHUP
91signal and the
92.Dv SIGCONT
93signal are sent to all members of the newly-orphaned process group.
94.It
95If the process is a controlling process (see
96.Xr intro 2 ) ,
97the
98.Dv SIGHUP
99signal is sent to the foreground process group of the controlling terminal,
100and all current access to the controlling terminal is revoked.
101.El
102.Pp
103Most C programs call the library routine
104.Xr exit 3 ,
105which flushes buffers, closes streams, unlinks temporary files, etc.,
106before
107calling
108.Fn _exit .
109.Sh RETURN VALUES
110.Fn _Exit
111and
112.Fn _exit
113can never return.
114.Sh SEE ALSO
115.Xr fork 2 ,
116.Xr sigaction 2 ,
117.Xr wait 2 ,
118.Xr exit 3
119.Sh STANDARDS
120The
121.Fn _exit
122function conforms to
123.St -p1003.1-90 .
124The
125.Fn _Exit
126function conforms to
127.St -isoC-99 .
128