ATEXIT(3) Linux Programmer's Manual ATEXIT(3)
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 nor-
mal process termination, either via exit(3) or via return from the pro-
gram'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 im-
plementation 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 at-
tributes(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 registered functions calls _exit(2), then any remaining
functions are not invoked, and the other process termination steps per-
formed 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 unde-
fined. On some systems (but not Linux), this can result in an infinite
recursion; portable programs should not invoke exit(3) inside a func-
tion registered using atexit().
The atexit() and on_exit(3) functions register functions on the same
list: at normal process termination, the registered functions are in-
voked 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 using 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.
EXAMPLES
#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 5.07 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
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2020-06-09 ATEXIT(3)