what does exit(0) mean?

Guy Harris guy at sun.uucp
Sun Feb 23 21:27:27 AEST 1986


> > The point is that the VMS C implementation must map its exit codes into
> > what the operating system expects. When the programmer says `exit 0', he
> > means `I succeeded'. The exit() function must support this.
> 
> No way!  exit(n) means "terminate and send the number n back to the system."

In UNIX C, definitely.  In ANSI C (as given in the current draft), no way.
Chapter and verse citations have been given in previous articles.  A VMS
ANSI C implementaion will return SS$NORMAL or whatever they call it when you
do "exit(0)".  Presumably, "exit(n)", for "n" != 0, can return with "n".
-- 
	Guy Harris
	{ihnp4, decvax, seismo, decwrl, ...}!sun!guy
	guy at sun.arpa	(yes, really)



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