The EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE macros expand into integral constant expressions that can be used as arguments to the std::exit function (and, therefore, as the values to return from the main function), and indicate program execution status.

Notes

Both EXIT_SUCCESS and the value zero indicate successful program execution status (see std::exit), although it is not required that EXIT_SUCCESS equals zero.

Although EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE are required to be freestanding since C++23, they are not required to be available in a freestanding C implementation.

Example

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    if (argc <= 1)
    {
        std::cout << "At least one command-line argument required\n";
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    
    std::cout << argv[1] << '\n';
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy cat

See also