CS50 Exit Codes
Overview Key Terms
You may have noticed that the main function definition returns an int, but in the past • exit code
we haven't been returning any value at the end of the main function. By default, if no
• input
return value is specified in the main function, the compiler will automatically assume
validation
that the main function returns 0. The value that the main function returns is referred to
as the program's exit code. As your programs become longer and more complicated,
exit codes can be a valuable tool.
Using Exit Codes
1 #include <cs50.h> By convention, if a program completed successfully with-
2 #include <stdio.h> out any problems, then it should return with an exit code
3 of 0. That's why the compiler assumes that if no return
4 int main(int argc, string argv[]) statement is provided at the end of main, the program
5 { should return 0. You could, however, explicitly specify re-
6 if (argc == 2) turn 0 at the end of a program.
7 {
8 printf("hello, %s\n", argv[1]); Any non-zero exit code (commonly 1 or -1) conventionally
9 return 0; means that there was some sort of error during the pro-
10 } gram's executing that prevented the program from com-
11 else pleting successfully.
12 {
13 return 1; One common use of exit codes is during input validation:
14 } when the program checks to make sure that the inputs
15 } provided by the user are valid. For instance, if a program
expects two command line arguments, but only receives
one, it might return a non-zero exit code to signal an error.
Take the above program, which takes (in addition to the program's name) a command line argument specify-
ing the user's name. The program then says hello to the user.
Upon starting the main function, the program checks to see whether argc is 2. If it is, then the user's input is
valid: the program can say hello, and successfully return with exit code 0.
On the other hand, if the user didn't provide the correct input values (say, by not providing enough command
line arguments, or by providing too many), then argc would not be equal to 2.
The program would then execute the else block, which returns the number 1 as an exit code, indicating that
there was an error in the program's execution.
Debugging
If you run programs normally from the command line, you won't actually see the return values that the main
function returns. However, many debugging tools, which are programs designed for helping programmers find
sources of problems in their code, will allow you to see the exit code with which the main function exited.
Knowing the exit code can be a valuable tool for determining why a program failed during the debugging
process. In larger programs, which may include many instances of error checking and input validation, the pro-
gram may return a different exit code for each error.
If the program fails, knowing which status code the program exited with can help determine what went wrong.
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