Exit Codes With Special Meanings （Linux）

原文：http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/exitcodes.html

Exit Codes With Special Meanings

Table E-1. Reserved Exit Codes

Exit Code Number	Meaning	Example	Comments
1	Catchall for general errors	let "var1 = 1/0"	Miscellaneous errors, such as "divide by zero" and other impermissible operations
2	Misuse of shell builtins (according to Bash documentation)	empty_function() {}	Missing keyword or command
126	Command invoked cannot execute	/dev/null	Permission problem or command is not an executable
127	"command not found"	illegal_command	Possible problem with $PATH or a typo
128	Invalid argument to exit	exit 3.14159	exit takes only integer args in therange0 - 255 (seefirst footnote)
128+n	Fatal error signal "n"	kill -9 $PPID of script	$? returns137 (128 + 9)
130	Script terminated by Control-C	Ctl-C	Control-C is fatal error signal 2, (130 = 128 + 2, see above)
255*	Exit status out of range	exit -1	exit takes only integer args in the range0 - 255

According to the above table, exit codes 1 - 2, 126 - 165, and 255[1]have special meanings, and should therefore be avoided foruser-specified exit parameters. Ending a script with exit127 would certainly cause confusion when troubleshooting(is the error code a"command not found" or auser-defined one?). However, many scripts use anexit1 as a general bailout-upon-error. Since exit code1 signifies so many possible errors,it is not particularly useful in debugging.

There has been an attempt to systematize exit status numbers(see /usr/include/sysexits.h),but this is intended for C and C++ programmers. A similarstandard for scripting might be appropriate. The author ofthis document proposes restricting user-defined exit codes tothe range64 - 113 (in addition to0, for success), to conform withthe C/C++ standard. This would allot 50 valid codes, and maketroubleshooting scripts more straightforward.[2]All user-defined exit codes in the accompanying examples tothis document conform to this standard, except where overridingcircumstances exist, as inExample 9-2.

Issuing a $? fromthe command-line after a shell script exits givesresults consistent with the table above only from theBash orsh prompt. Running theC-shell ortcshmay give different values in some cases.

Notes

[1]

Out of range exit values can result in unexpected exit codes. An exit value greater than255 returns an exit codemodulo256. For example, exit 3809 gives an exit code of225 (3809 % 256 = 225).

[2]

An update of /usr/include/sysexits.h allocates previously unused exit codes from64 - 78. It may be anticipated that the range of unallotted exit codes will be further restricted in the future. The author of this document willnot do fixups on the scripting examples to conform to the changing standard. This should not cause any problems, since there is no overlap or conflict in usage of exit codes between compiled C/C++ binaries and shell scripts.