CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cerror-handling
jramm
jramm

Reputation: 6655

C error handling best practice - use of exit()?

I have a c program which defines the following function:

void logFatal(char *msg, enum errors error)
{
    fprintf(stderr, msg);
    exit(error);
}

In the rest of the program if anything happens that means the program will not function properly if execution continues (typical example being a call to malloc fails to allocate memory), then I call logFatal and the program exits, where-ever it happens to be.

Is this good/bad practice?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 581

Answers (1)

David van rijn
David van rijn

Reputation: 2220

As long as you are not writing a library for other people ;) you are free to do this. It is usually used as a last resource though, because with most errors it is enough to just cancel the action.

Imagine this error:

  • user clicks open file
  • file doesn't exist
  • program exits

That feels a bit harsh... So in that case it is better to handle the error with a message to the user etc. But since you didn't specify what kind of application, i can't tell you anything about that, but malloc failures usually indicate big trouble, so in that case it's probably best to just exit.

Upvotes: 1

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