NAME

_exit — terminate the calling process

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

void
_exit(int status);

DESCRIPTION

The _exit() function terminates a process, with the following consequences:

• All of the descriptors that were 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 call or catches the SIGCHLD signal, it is notified of the calling process's termination; 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 1; the initialization process (see the DEFINITIONS section of intro(2)) inherits each of these processes.
• 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. 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 VALUE

_exit() can never return.

SEE ALSO

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

STANDARDS

The _exit function is defined by IEEE Std 1003.1-1988 (“POSIX.1”).