`_set_abort_behavior`

Article
12/02/2022

Specifies the action to be taken when a program is abnormally terminated.

Note

Do not use the abort function to shut down a Microsoft Store app, except in testing or debugging scenarios. Programmatic or UI ways to close a Store app are not permitted according to the Microsoft Store policies. For more information, see UWP app lifecycle.

Syntax

unsigned int _set_abort_behavior(
   unsigned int flags,
   unsigned int mask
);

Parameters

flags
New value of the abort flags.

mask
Mask for the abort flags bits to set.

Return value

The old value of the flags.

Remarks

There are two abort flags: _WRITE_ABORT_MSG and _CALL_REPORTFAULT. _WRITE_ABORT_MSG determines whether a helpful text message is printed when a program is abnormally terminated. The message states that the application has called the abort function. The default behavior is to print the message. _CALL_REPORTFAULT, if set, invokes the Windows Error Reporting Service mechanism (formerly known as Dr. Watson) to report failures to Microsoft when abort is called. By default, crash dump reporting is enabled in non-DEBUG builds. If the Windows error reporting handler isn't invoked, then abort calls _exit to terminate the process with exit code 3 and returns control to the parent process or the operating system. _exit doesn't flush stream buffers or do atexit/_onexit processing.

For Windows compatibility reasons, when abort calls _exit, it may invoke the Windows ExitProcess API, which in turn allows DLL termination routines to run. Destructors aren't run in the executable, but the same may not be true of DLLs loaded in the executable's process space. This behavior doesn't strictly conform to the C++ standard. To immediately terminate a process including any DLLs, use the Windows TerminateProcess API. You can also register an abort signal handler that invokes TerminateProcess for standard-compliant behavior. Compliant behavior may come at some cost in Windows compatibility.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change it, see Global state in the CRT.

Requirements

Routine	Required header
`_set_abort_behavior`	`<stdlib.h>`

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_set_abort_behavior.c
// compile with: /TC
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
   printf("Suppressing the abort message. If successful, this message"
          " will be the only output.\n");
   // Suppress the abort message
   _set_abort_behavior( 0, _WRITE_ABORT_MSG);
   abort();
}

Suppressing the abort message. If successful, this message will be the only output.

Share via