xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2 (revision a28daedfc357b214be5c701aa8ba8adb29a7f1c2)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: _exit.2,v 1.16 2007/05/31 19:19:32 jmc Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: _exit.2,v 1.6 1995/02/27 12:31:34 cgd Exp $
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31.\"     @(#)_exit.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
32.\"
33.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
34.Dt _EXIT 2
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm _exit
38.Nd terminate the calling process
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Fd #include <unistd.h>
41.Ft void
42.Fn _exit "int status"
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The
45.Fn _exit
46function terminates a process with the following consequences:
47.Bl -bullet
48.It
49All open file descriptors in the calling process are closed.
50This may entail delays; for example, waiting for output to drain.
51A process in this state may not be killed, as it is already dying.
52.It
53If the parent process of the calling process has an outstanding
54.Xr wait 2
55call or catches the
56.Dv SIGCHLD
57signal, it is notified of the calling process's termination and
58.Fa status
59is set as defined by
60.Xr wait 2 .
61(Note that typically only the lower 8 bits of
62.Fa status
63are passed on to the parent, thus negative values have less meaning.)
64.It
65The parent process ID of all of the calling process's existing child
66processes are set to 1; the initialization process (see the
67.Sx DEFINITIONS
68section of
69.Xr intro 2 )
70inherits each of these processes.
71.It
72If the termination of the process causes any process group
73to become orphaned (usually because the parents of all members
74of the group have now exited; see
75.Sx Orphaned Process Group
76in
77.Xr intro 2 ) ,
78and if any member of the orphaned group is stopped, the
79.Dv SIGHUP
80and
81.Dv SIGCONT
82signals are sent to all members of the newly orphaned process group.
83.It
84If the process is a controlling process (see
85.Xr intro 2 ) ,
86the
87.Dv SIGHUP
88signal is sent to the foreground process group of the controlling terminal,
89and all current access to the controlling terminal is revoked.
90.El
91.Pp
92Most C programs call the library routine
93.Xr exit 3 ,
94which flushes buffers, closes streams, unlinks temporary files, etc.,
95and then calls
96.Fn _exit .
97.Sh RETURN VALUES
98.Fn _exit
99can never return.
100.Sh SEE ALSO
101.Xr fork 2 ,
102.Xr intro 2 ,
103.Xr sigaction 2 ,
104.Xr wait 2 ,
105.Xr _Exit 3 ,
106.Xr exit 3 ,
107.Xr sysexits 3
108.Sh STANDARDS
109The
110.Fn _exit
111function is defined by
112.St -p1003.1-88 .
113