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_exit(2)

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 conse-
     quences:

     o	 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.

     o	 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).

     o	 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.

     o	 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.

     o	 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)

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.

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