NAME

       _exit — terminate the calling process

LIBRARY

       Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       void
       _exit(int status);

DESCRIPTION

       The _exit() system call terminates a process with the following consequences:

       •   All  of the descriptors open in the calling process are closed.  This may entail delays, for example,
           waiting for output to drain; a process in this state may not be killed, as it is already dying.

       •   If the parent process of the calling process has an outstanding wait(2) call or catches  the  SIGCHLD
           signal,  it  is  notified  of  the  calling process's termination and the status is set as defined by
           wait(2).

       •   The parent process-ID of all of the calling  process's  existing  child  processes  are  set  to  the
           process-ID of the calling process's reaper; the reaper (normally the initialization process) inherits
           each of these processes (see procctl(2), init(8) and the “DEFINITIONS” section of intro(2)).

       •   If  the  termination  of the process causes any process group to become orphaned (usually because the
           parents of all members of the group have now exited; see “orphaned process group” in  intro(2)),  and
           if  any member of the orphaned group is stopped, the SIGHUP signal and the SIGCONT signal are sent to
           all members of the newly-orphaned process group.

       •   If the process is a controlling process (see intro(2)), the SIGHUP signal is sent to  the  foreground
           process  group  of  the  controlling  terminal, and all current access to the controlling terminal is
           revoked.

       Most C programs call the  library  routine  exit(3),  which  flushes  buffers,  closes  streams,  unlinks
       temporary files, etc., before calling _exit().

RETURN VALUES

       The _exit() system call can never return.

SEE ALSO

       fork(2), sigaction(2), wait(2), exit(3), init(8)

STANDARDS

       The _exit() system call is expected to conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (“POSIX.1”).

HISTORY

       The _exit() function appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.

Debian                                          September 8, 2016                                        EXIT(2)