EXIT(2)EXIT(2)NAME
exit, _Exit, _exit - terminate process
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h>
void exit(int status);
void _Exit(int status);
#include <unistd.h>
void _exit(int status);
DESCRIPTION
The exit() function first calls all functions registered by atexit(3C),
in the reverse order of their registration, except that a function is
called after any previously registered functions that had already been
called at the time it was registered. Each function is called as many
times as it was registered. If, during the call to any such function, a
call to the longjmp(3C) function is made that would terminate the call
to the registered function, the behavior is undefined.
If a function registered by a call to atexit(3C) fails to return, the
remaining registered functions are not called and the rest of the
exit() processing is not completed. If exit() is called more than once,
the effects are undefined.
The exit() function then flushes all open streams with unwritten
buffered data, closes all open streams, and removes all files created
by tmpfile(3C).
The _Exit() and _exit() functions are functionally equivalent. They do
not call functions registered with atexit(), do not call any registered
signal handlers, and do not flush open streams.
The _exit(), _Exit(), and exit() functions terminate the calling
process with the following consequences:
o All of the file descriptors, directory streams, conversion
descriptors and message catalogue descriptors open in the
calling process are closed.
o If the parent process of the calling process is executing a
wait(3C), wait3(3C), waitid(2), or waitpid(3C), and has nei‐
ther set its SA_NOCLDWAIT flag nor set SIGCHLD to SIG_IGN,
it is notified of the calling process's termination and the
low-order eight bits (that is, bits 0377) of status are made
available to it. If the parent is not waiting, the child's
status will be made available to it when the parent subse‐
quently executes wait(), wait3(), waitid(), or waitpid().
o If the parent process of the calling process is not execut‐
ing a wait(), wait3(), waitid(), or waitpid(), and has not
set its SA_NOCLDWAIT flag, or set SIGCHLD to SIG_IGN, the
calling process is transformed into a zombie process. A zom‐
bie process is an inactive process and it will be deleted at
some later time when its parent process executes wait(),
wait3(), waitid(), or waitpid(). A zombie process only occu‐
pies a slot in the process table; it has no other space
allocated either in user or kernel space. The process table
slot that it occupies is partially overlaid with time
accounting information (see <sys/proc.h>) to be used by the
times(2) function.
o Termination of a process does not directly terminate its
children. The sending of a SIGHUP signal as described below
indirectly terminates children in some circumstances.
o A SIGCHLD will be sent to the parent process.
o The parent process ID of all of the calling process's exist‐
ing child processes and zombie processes is set to 1. That
is, these processes are inherited by the initialization
process (see Intro(2)).
o Each mapped memory object is unmapped.
o Each attached shared-memory segment is detached and the
value of shm_nattch (see shmget(2)) in the data structure
associated with its shared memory ID is decremented by 1.
o For each semaphore for which the calling process has set a
semadj value (see semop(2)), that value is added to the sem‐
val of the specified semaphore.
o If the process is a controlling process, the SIGHUP signal
will be sent to each process in the foreground process group
of the controlling terminal belonging to the calling
process.
o If the process is a controlling process, the controlling
terminal associated with the session is disassociated from
the session, allowing it to be acquired by a new controlling
process.
o If the exit of the process causes a process group to become
orphaned, and if any member of the newly-orphaned process
group is stopped, then a SIGHUP signal followed by a SIGCONT
signal will be sent to each process in the newly-orphaned
process group.
o If the parent process has set its SA_NOCLDWAIT flag, or set
SIGCHLD to SIG_IGN, the status will be discarded, and the
lifetime of the calling process will end immediately.
o If the process has process, text or data locks, an UNLOCK is
performed (see plock(3C) and memcntl(2)).
o All open named semaphores in the process are closed as if by
appropriate calls to sem_close(3C). All open message queues
in the process are closed as if by appropriate calls to
mq_close(3C). Any outstanding asynchronous I/O operations
may be cancelled.
o An accounting record is written on the accounting file if
the system's accounting routine is enabled (see acct(2)).
o An extended accounting record is written to the extended
process accounting file if the system's extended process
accounting facility is enabled (see acctadm(1M)).
o If the current process is the last process within its task
and if the system's extended task accounting facility is
enabled (see acctadm(1M)), an extended accounting record is
written to the extended task accounting file.
RETURN VALUES
These functions do not return.
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
USAGE
Normally applications should use exit() rather than _exit().
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌────────────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │ Committed │
├────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│MT-Level │ See below. │
├────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│Standard │ See standards(5). │
└────────────────────┴───────────────────┘
The _exit() and _Exit() functions are Async-Signal-Safe.
SEE ALSOacctadm(1M), Intro(2), acct(2), close(2), memcntl(2), semop(2),
shmget(2), sigaction(2), times(2), waitid(2), atexit(3C), fclose(3C),
mq_close(3C), plock(3C), signal.h(3HEAD), tmpfile(3C), wait(3C),
wait3(3C), waitpid(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)
Feb 5, 2008 EXIT(2)
