# Exit with custom status code
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944
**Category:** Code
**Tags:** tool:cmake
**Created:** [November 11, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944 "2024-11-11T23:28:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tomoyo255](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/tomoyo255)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944/1 "2024-11-11T23:28:35Z")
Hello,
I would like to know if there’s a way to exit at will from a cmake CMakeLists.txt with a status code of my choice.
If the current cmake list corresponds to one of a subdirectory suggesting a nested execution, it’s fine that execution resumes in the parent context with the process status that I supplied to the exit feature and the expected effect on that context level.
Rationale: I’m in a situation where I’m executing a command from a macro and if the result pleases me, I might be inclined to short cut and exit immediately. But, as I suggest, that might not be a fatal condition, it might be an easy win in success instead (zero return status).
To generate a fatal condition is easy with message(FATAL\_ERROR …), but I would need something more like a message(SUCCESS\_EXIT …) that would return with zero status.
In particular, I must insist that, in my case, I need that behavior to be encapsulatable in a macro for cleanliness of the CMakeLists.txt code at the top level. I could of course do an if that would encompass the rest of the script entirely and only enter the then-clause if my macro didn’t want to exit in shortcut, but wouldn’t be satisfactory obviously.
E.g.:
```auto
macro print_help_and_exit_if_asked(opt_help)
if(NOT "${opt_help}" STREQUAL "")
print_help()
exit(0)
endif()
endmacro()
```
So, is there any exit() function available or cmake\_exit() as another person suggested?
I must insist here that I’m only requesting something very common that is: when entering some conditional part of the code where executing the rest of the script is not expected anymore like printing some help notice or things like that, I would like it to be easy to cut things short. Of course, a giant if can achieve that, but is it necessarily cleaner?
Also the help printing above is just an example, that’s not my true need.
Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@tomoyo255](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/tomoyo255)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944/2 "2024-11-12T00:43:24Z")
Question: might return() be the answer to my question?
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### Author:  [@leha-bot](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/leha-bot)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 9:06am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944/3 "2024-11-12T09:06:25Z")
Hello, I implemented `cmake_language(EXIT )` some times ago (it available since CMake 3.29), check out it here please: [https://cmake.org/cmake/help/git-master/command/cmake\_language.html#terminating-scripts](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/git-master/command/cmake_language.html#terminating-scripts)
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### Author:  [@leha-bot](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/leha-bot)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 9:08am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/exit-with-custom-status-code/12944/4 "2024-11-12T09:08:07Z")
In general, no, it just returns you to the outer scope of your directories, and it couldn’t set custom error code if used in top-level CMakeLists.txt scope