exit

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

exit — Output a message and terminate the current script

Description

exit(string $status = ?): void

exit(int $status): void

Terminates execution of the script. Shutdown functions and object destructors will always be executed even if exit is called.

exit is a language construct and it can be called without parentheses if no status is passed.

Parameters

status

If status is a string, this function prints the status just before exiting.

If status is an int, that value will be used as the exit status and not printed. Exit statuses should be in the range 0 to 254, the exit status 255 is reserved by PHP and shall not be used. The status 0 is used to terminate the program successfully.

Return Values

No value is returned.

Examples

Example #1 exit example

<?php

$filename = '/path/to/data-file';
$file = fopen($filename, 'r')
    or exit("unable to open file ($filename)");

?>

Example #2 exit status example

<?php

//exit program normally
exit;
exit();
exit(0);

//exit with an error code
exit(1);
exit(0376); //octal

?>

Example #3 Shutdown functions and destructors run regardless

<?php
class Foo
{
    public function __destruct()
    {
        echo 'Destruct: ' . __METHOD__ . '()' . PHP_EOL;
    }
}

function shutdown()
{
    echo 'Shutdown: ' . __FUNCTION__ . '()' . PHP_EOL;
}

$foo = new Foo();
register_shutdown_function('shutdown');

exit();
echo 'This will not be output.';
?>

The above example will output:

Shutdown: shutdown()
 Destruct: Foo::__destruct()

Notes

Note: Because this is a language construct and not a function, it cannot be called using variable functions, or named arguments.

Note:
This language construct is equivalent to die().

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User Contributed Notes 14 notes

down

dexen dot devries at gmail dot com ¶

13 years ago

If you want to avoid calling exit() in FastCGI as per the comments below, but really, positively want to exit cleanly from nested function call or include, consider doing it the Python way:

define an exception named `SystemExit', throw it instead of calling exit() and catch it in index.php with an empty handler to finish script execution cleanly.

<?php

// file: index.php
class SystemExit extends Exception {}
try {
/* code code */
}
catch (SystemExit $e) { /* do nothing */ }
// end of file: index.php

// some deeply nested function or .php file    

if (SOME_EXIT_CONDITION)
   throw new SystemExit(); // instead of exit()

?>

down

albert at removethis dot peschar dot net ¶

15 years ago

jbezorg at gmail proposed the following:

<?php

if($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] == __FILE__ )
header('Location: /');

?>

After sending the `Location:' header PHP _will_ continue parsing, and all code below the header() call will still be executed.  So instead use:

<?php

if($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] == __FILE__)
{
header('Location: /');
  exit;
}

?>

down

theonenkl at gmail dot com ¶

9 years ago

A side-note for the use of exit with finally: if you exit somewhere in a try block, the finally won't be executed. Could not sound obvious: for instance in Java you never issue an exit, at least a return in your controller; in PHP instead you could find yourself exiting from a controller method (e.g. in case you issue a redirect).

Here follows the POC:

<?php
echo "testing finally wit exit\n";

try {
    echo "In try, exiting\n";

    exit;
} catch(Exception $e) {
    echo "catched\n";
} finally {
    echo "in finally\n";
}

echo "In the end\n";
?>

This will print:

testing finally wit exit
In try, exiting

down

vincent dot laag at gmail dot com ¶

13 years ago

Don't use the  exit() function in the auto prepend file with fastcgi (linux/bsd os).
It has the effect of leaving opened files with for result at least a nice  "Too many open files  ..." error.

down

tianyiw at vip dot qq dot com ¶

1 year ago

These are the standard error codes in Linux or UNIX.

1 - Catchall for general errors
2 - Misuse of shell builtins (according to Bash documentation)
126 - Command invoked cannot execute
127 - “command not found”
128 - Invalid argument to exit
128+n - Fatal error signal “n”
130 - Script terminated by Control-C
255\* - Exit status out of range

down

void a t informance d o t info ¶

15 years ago

To rich dot lovely at klikzltd dot co dot uk:

Using a "@" before header() to suppress its error, and relying on the "headers already sent" error seems to me a very bad idea while building any serious website.

This is *not* a clean way to prevent a file from being called directly. At least this is not a secure method, as you rely on the presence of an exception sent by the parser at runtime.

I recommend using a more common way as defining a constant or assigning a variable with any value, and checking for its presence in the included script, like:

in index.php:
<?php
define ('INDEX', true);
?>

in your included file:
<?php
if (!defined('INDEX')) {
   die('You cannot call this script directly !');
}
?>

BR.

Ninj

down

jean dot claveau at gmail dot com ¶

4 years ago

Beware if you enabled uopz extension, it disables exit / die() by default. They are just "skipped".

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.uopz-allow-exit.php

down

emils at tvnet dot lv ¶

21 years ago

Note, that using exit() will explicitly cause Roxen webserver to die, if PHP is used as Roxen SAPI module. There is no known workaround for that, except not to use exit(). CGI versions of PHP are not affected.

down

m dot libergolis at gmail dot com ¶

9 years ago

In addition to "void a t informance d o t info", here's a one-liner that requires no constant:

<?php basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']) == basename(__FILE__) && die('Thou shall not pass!'); ?>

Placing it at the beginning of a PHP file will prevent direct access to the script.

To redirect to / instead of dying:

<?php
if (basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']) == basename(__FILE__)) {
    if (ob_get_contents()) ob_clean(); // ob_get_contents() even works without active output buffering
header('Location: /');
    die;
}
?>

Doing the same in a one-liner:

<?php basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']) == basename(__FILE__) && (!ob_get_contents() || ob_clean()) && header('Location: /') && die; ?>

A note to security: Even though $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] comes from the user, it's safe to assume its validity, as the "manipulation" takes place _before_ the actual file execution, meaning that the string _must_ have been valid enough to execute the file. Also, basename() is binary safe, so you can safely rely on this function.

down

bill dot gates at hotmail dot com ¶

3 years ago

Be noticed about uopz (User Operations for Zend) extension of PHP. It disables (prevents) halting of PHP scripts (both FPM and CLI) on calling `exit()` and `die()` by default just after enabling the extension. Therefore your script will continue to execute.

Details: https://www.php.net/manual/en/uopz.configuration.php#ini.uopz.exit

down

alexyam at live dot com ¶

12 years ago

When using php-fpm, fastcgi_finish_request() should be used instead of register_shutdown_function() and exit()

For example, under nginx and php-fpm 5.3+, this will make browsers wait 10 seconds to show output:

<?php
echo "You have to wait 10 seconds to see this.<br>";
register_shutdown_function('shutdown');
    exit;
    function shutdown(){
sleep(10);
        echo "Because exit() doesn't terminate php-fpm calls immediately.<br>";
    }
?>

This doesn't:

<?php
echo "You can see this from the browser immediately.<br>";
fastcgi_finish_request();
sleep(10);
    echo "You can't see this form the browser.";
?>

down

devinemke at devinemke dot com ¶

22 years ago

If you are using templates with numerous includes then exit() will end you script and your template will not complete (no </table>, </body>, </html> etc...).  Rather than having complex nested conditional logic within your content, just create a "footer.php" file that closes all of your HTML and if you want to exit out of a script just include() the footer before you exit().

for example:

include ('header.php');
blah blah blah 
if (!$mysql_connect) {
echo "unable to connect";
include ('footer.php');
exit;
}
blah blah blah
include ('footer.php');

down

chris at ocproducts dot com ¶

6 years ago

Calling 'exit' will bypass the auto_append_file option.
On some free hosting this risks you getting removed, as they may be using for ads and analytics.

So be a bit careful if using this on the most common output branch.

down

sunfundev at gmail dot com ¶

6 years ago

>> Shutdown functions and object destructors will always be executed even if exit is called.

It is false if you call exit into desctructor.

Normal exit:
<?php
class A
{
    public function __destruct()
    {
        echo "bye A\n";
    }
}

class B
{
    public function __destruct()
    {
        echo "bye B\n";
    }
}

$a = new A;
$b = new B;
exit;

// Output:
// bye B
// bye A
?>

// Exit into desctructor:
<?php
class A
{
    public function __destruct()
    {
        echo "bye A\n";
    }
}

class B
{
    public function __destruct()
    {
        echo "bye B\n";
        exit;
    }
}

$a = new A;
$b = new B;

// Output:
// bye B
?>

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exit

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Examples

Notes

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 14 notes