Environment.ExitCode Property

Definition

Gets or sets the exit code of the process.

public:
 static property int ExitCode { int get(); void set(int value); };
public static int ExitCode { get; set; }
static member ExitCode : int with get, set
Public Shared Property ExitCode As Integer

Property Value

A 32-bit signed integer containing the exit code. The default value is 0 (zero), which indicates that the process completed successfully.

Examples

The following is a simple app named Double.exe that doubles an integer value passed to it as a command-line argument. The value assigns error codes to the ExitCode property to indicate error conditions. Note that you must add a reference to the System.Numerics.dll assembly to successfully compile the example.

using System;
using System.Numerics;

public class Example
{
   private const int ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS = 0xA0;
   private const int ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW = 0x216;
   private const int ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE = 0x667;

   public static void Main()
   {
      string[] args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
      if (args.Length == 1) {
         Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE;
      }
      else {
         BigInteger value = 0;
         if (BigInteger.TryParse(args[1], out value))
            if (value <= Int32.MinValue || value >= Int32.MaxValue)
               Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW;
            else
               Console.WriteLine("Result: {0}", value * 2);

         else
            Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS;
      }
   }
}
open System
open System.Numerics

let ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS = 0xA0
let ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW = 0x216
let ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE = 0x667

let args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()
if args.Length = 1 then
    Environment.ExitCode <- ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE
else
    match BigInteger.TryParse args[1] with
    | true, value ->
        if value <= bigint Int32.MinValue || value >= bigint Int32.MaxValue then
            Environment.ExitCode <- ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW
        else
            printfn $"Result: {value * 2I}"
    | _ ->
        Environment.ExitCode <- ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS
Imports System.Numerics

Module Example
   Private Const ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS As Integer = &hA0
   Private Const ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW As Integer = &h216
   Private Const ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE As Integer = &h667
    
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim args() As String = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()
      If args.Length = 1 Then
         Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE  
      Else
         Dim value As BigInteger = 0
         If BigInteger.TryParse(args(1), value) Then
            If value <= Int32.MinValue Or value >= Int32.MaxValue
               Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW
            Else
               Console.WriteLine("Result: {0}", value * 2)
            End If
         Else
            Environment.ExitCode = ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS
         End If     
      End If
   End Sub
End Module

The example can then be invoked from a batch file such as the following, which makes its error codes accessible by using the ERRORLEVEL command.

@echo off
Double.exe %1
if errorlevel 1639 goto NoArg
if errorlevel 534 goto Overflow
if errorlevel 160 goto BadArg
if errorlevel 0 echo Completed Successfully
goto :EOF

:NoArg
echo Missing argument
goto :EOF

:Overflow
echo Arithmetic overflow
goto :EOF

:BadArg
echo Invalid argument
goto :EOF

The following shows some sample output produced by invoking the batch file.

>getdouble 123
Result: 246
Completed Successfully

>getdouble 5912323109093
Arithmetic overflow

>getdouble
Missing argument

>getdouble "a string"
Invalid argument

Note that code for Double.exe is identical in function to the following example, except that the former defines an entry point named Main that has no return value, whereas this example defines an entry point named Main that returns an integer.

using System;
using System.Numerics;

public class Example
{
   private const int ERROR_SUCCESS = 0;
   private const int ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS = 0xA0;
   private const int ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW = 0x216;
   private const int ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE = 0x667;

   public static int Main()
   {
      string[] args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
      if (args.Length == 1) {
         return ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE;
      }
      else {
         BigInteger value = 0;
         if (BigInteger.TryParse(args[1], out value))
            if (value <= Int32.MinValue || value >= Int32.MaxValue)
               return ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW;
            else
               Console.WriteLine("Result: {0}", value * 2);

         else
            return ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS;
      }
      return ERROR_SUCCESS;
   }
}
open System
open System.Numerics

let ERROR_SUCCESS = 0
let ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS = 0xA0
let ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW = 0x216
let ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE = 0x667

[<EntryPoint>]
let main _ =
    let args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()
    if args.Length = 1 then
        ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE
    else
        match BigInteger.TryParse args[1] with
        | true, value ->
            if value <= bigint Int32.MinValue || value >= bigint Int32.MaxValue then
                ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW
            else
                printfn $"Result: {value * 2I}"
                ERROR_SUCCESS
        | _ ->
            ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS
Imports System.Numerics

Module Example
   Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS As Integer = 0
   Private Const ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS As Integer = &hA0
   Private Const ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW As Integer = &h216
   Private Const ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE As Integer = &h667
    
   Public Function Main() As Integer
      Dim args() As String = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()
      If args.Length = 1 Then
         Return ERROR_INVALID_COMMAND_LINE  
      Else
         Dim value As BigInteger = 0
         If BigInteger.TryParse(args(1), value) Then
            If value <= Int32.MinValue Or value >= Int32.MaxValue
               Return ERROR_ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW
            Else
               Console.WriteLine("Result: {0}", value * 2)
            End If
         Else
            Return ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS
         End If     
      End If
      Return ERROR_SUCCESS
   End Function
End Module

Remarks

If the Main method returns void, you can use this property to set the exit code that will be returned to the calling environment. If Main does not return void, this property is ignored. The initial value of this property is zero.

Warning

The ExitCode property is a signed 32-bit integer. To prevent the property from returning a negative exit code, you should not use values greater than or equal to 0x80000000.

Use a non-zero number to indicate an error. In your application, you can define your own error codes in an enumeration, and return the appropriate error code based on the scenario. For example, return a value of 1 to indicate that the required file is not present and a value of 2 to indicate that the file is in the wrong format. For a list of exit codes used by the Windows operating system, see System Error Codes in the Windows documentation.

Applies to