xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2 (revision 47911bd667ac77dc523b8a13ef40b012dbffa741)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: _exit.2,v 1.12 2002/11/10 03:21:48 fgsch Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: _exit.2,v 1.6 1995/02/27 12:31:34 cgd Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1993
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35.\"     @(#)_exit.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 4, 1993
38.Dt _EXIT 2
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm _exit
42.Nd terminate the calling process
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Fd #include <unistd.h>
45.Ft void
46.Fn _exit "int status"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn _exit
50function terminates a process with the following consequences:
51.Bl -bullet
52.It
53All open file descriptors in the calling process are closed.
54This may entail delays; for example, waiting for output to drain.
55A process in this state may not be killed, as it is already dying.
56.It
57If the parent process of the calling process has an outstanding
58.Xr wait 2
59call or catches the
60.Dv SIGCHLD
61signal, it is notified of the calling process's termination and
62.Fa status
63is set as defined by
64.Xr wait 2 .
65(Note that typically only the lower 8 bits of
66.Fa status
67is passed on to the parent, thus negative values have less meaning.)
68.It
69The parent process ID of all of the calling process's existing child
70processes are set to 1; the initialization process (see the
71.Sx DEFINITIONS
72section of
73.Xr intro 2 )
74inherits each of these processes.
75.It
76If the termination of the process causes any process group
77to become orphaned (usually because the parents of all members
78of the group have now exited; see
79.Sx Orphaned Process Group
80in
81.Xr intro 2 ) ,
82and if any member of the orphaned group is stopped, the
83.Dv SIGHUP
84and
85.Dv SIGCONT
86signals are sent to all members of the newly orphaned process group.
87.It
88If the process is a controlling process (see
89.Xr intro 2 ) ,
90the
91.Dv SIGHUP
92signal is sent to the foreground process group of the controlling terminal,
93and all current access to the controlling terminal is revoked.
94.El
95.Pp
96Most C programs call the library routine
97.Xr exit 3 ,
98which flushes buffers, closes streams, unlinks temporary files, etc.,
99and then calls
100.Fn _exit .
101.Sh RETURN VALUES
102.Fn _exit
103can never return.
104.Sh SEE ALSO
105.Xr fork 2 ,
106.Xr intro 2 ,
107.Xr sigaction 2 ,
108.Xr wait 2 ,
109.Xr exit 3 ,
110.Xr sysexits 3
111.Sh STANDARDS
112The
113.Fn _exit
114function is defined by
115.St -p1003.1-88 .
116