NAME

       atexit - register a function to be called at normal process termination

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       int atexit(void (*function)(void));

DESCRIPTION

       The  atexit()  function  registers  the  given  function  to  be  called at normal process
       termination, either via exit(3) or via return from the  program's  main().   Functions  so
       registered are called in the reverse order of their registration; no arguments are passed.

       The  same  function  may  be  registered  multiple  times:  it  is  called  once  for each
       registration.

       POSIX.1 requires that an implementation allow at least ATEXIT_MAX (32) such  functions  to
       be  registered.   The  actual  limit  supported by an implementation can be obtained using
       sysconf(3).

       When a child  process  is  created  via  fork(2),  it  inherits  copies  of  its  parent's
       registrations.   Upon a successful call to one of the exec(3) functions, all registrations
       are removed.

RETURN VALUE

       The atexit() function returns the value 0 if successful; otherwise it  returns  a  nonzero
       value.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌──────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │Interface │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├──────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │atexit()  │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └──────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99, SVr4, 4.3BSD.

NOTES

       Functions  registered  using  atexit()  (and  on_exit(3))  are  not  called  if  a process
       terminates abnormally because of the delivery of a signal.

       If one of the functions registered functions calls _exit(2), then any remaining  functions
       are  not  invoked,  and  the  other process termination steps performed by exit(3) are not
       performed.

       POSIX.1 says that the result of calling exit(3) more  than  once  (i.e.,  calling  exit(3)
       within  a  function  registered  using  atexit())  is undefined.  On some systems (but not
       Linux), this can result in an infinite recursion;  portable  programs  should  not  invoke
       exit(3) inside a function registered using atexit().

       The  atexit()  and  on_exit(3)  functions  register  functions on the same list: at normal
       process termination, the registered functions  are  invoked  in  reverse  order  of  their
       registration by these two functions.

       According to POSIX.1, the result is undefined if longjmp(3) is used to terminate execution
       of one of the functions registered atexit().

   Linux notes
       Since glibc 2.2.3, atexit() (and on_exit(3)) can  be  used  within  a  shared  library  to
       establish functions that are called when the shared library is unloaded.

EXAMPLE

       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       void
       bye(void)
       {
           printf("That was all, folks\n");
       }

       int
       main(void)
       {
           long a;
           int i;

           a = sysconf(_SC_ATEXIT_MAX);
           printf("ATEXIT_MAX = %ld\n", a);

           i = atexit(bye);
           if (i != 0) {
               fprintf(stderr, "cannot set exit function\n");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       _exit(2), dlopen(3), exit(3), on_exit(3)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 4.04 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.