26

How can I exit a batch file from inside a subroutine?

If I use the EXIT command, I simply return to the line where I called the subroutine, and execution continues.

Here's an example:

@echo off
ECHO Quitting...
CALL :QUIT
ECHO Still here!
GOTO END

:QUIT
EXIT /B 1

:END
EXIT /B 0

Output:

Quitting...
Still here!

Update:

This isn't a proper answer, but I ended up doing something along the lines of:

@echo off
CALL :SUBROUTINE_WITH_ERROR || GOTO HANDLE_FAIL
ECHO You shouldn't see this!
GOTO END

:SUBROUTINE_WITH_ERROR
ECHO Simulating failure...
EXIT /B 1

:HANDLE_FAIL
ECHO FAILURE!
EXIT /B 1

:END
ECHO NORMAL EXIT!
EXIT /B 0

The double-pipe statement of:

CALL :SUBROUTINE_WITH_ERROR || GOTO HANDLE_FAIL

is shorthand for:

CALL :SUBROUTINE_WITH_ERROR 
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO HANDLE_FAIL

I would still love to know if there's a way to exit directly from a subroutine rather than having to make the CALLER handle the situation, but this at least gets the job done.

Update #2: When calling a subroutine from within another subroutine, called in the manner above, I call from within subroutines thusly:

CALL :SUBROUTINE_WITH_ERROR || EXIT /B 1

This way, the error propagates back up to the "main", so to speak. The main part of the batch can then handle the error with the error handler GOTO :FAILURE

Brown
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5 Answers5

27

Add this to the top of your batch file:

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL

IF "%selfWrapped%"=="" (
  REM this is necessary so that we can use "exit" to terminate the batch file,
  REM and all subroutines, but not the original cmd.exe
  SET selfWrapped=true
  %ComSpec% /s /c ""%~0" %*"
  GOTO :EOF
)

Then you can simply call:

  • EXIT [errorLevel] if you want to exit the entire file
  • EXIT /B [errorLevel] to exit the current subroutine
  • GOTO :EOF to exit the current subroutine
Merlyn Morgan-Graham
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    +1 for actually mentioning GOTO :EOF – afrazier Dec 07 '11 at 22:06
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    Very nice. I've made a small modification, assign %~0 to the variable instead of true: if not "%selfwrapped%"=="%~0" ( set selfwrapped=%~0 .... ). That way you can use the same trick in multiple batch scripts that call each other. – GolezTrol Jul 27 '15 at 20:41
  • This is a great solution.

    Do you think it's worth an edit to explain how it works? It took me a minute to unpack all that and realize it is actually just calling the batch file (%~0) with all the arguments (%*) from a nested cmd.exe, and the /s is used to control the way the %ComSpec% argument handles the double quotes around the call.

     – Sean Sep 19 '17 at 14:07
  • @Sean I find brevity is more useful for most people. More docs hadn't been asked for in the 7 years since I wrote it, so it doesn't seem to be in high demand. I also think there is some value to people looking things up themselves and not duping/fragmenting docs. But maybe if a few more people ask I could add something. It's also a CW so you could propose an edit too – Merlyn Morgan-Graham Sep 19 '17 at 17:39
4

How about this one minor adjustment?

@echo off
ECHO Quitting...
CALL :QUIT
:: The QUIT subroutine might have set the error code so let's take a look.
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO :EOF
ECHO Still here!
GOTO END

:QUIT
EXIT /B 1

:END
EXIT /B 0

Output:

Quitting...

Technically this doesn't exit from within the subroutine. Rather, it simply checks the result of the subroutine and takes action from there.

JMD
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  • 2
    Thanks, that would certainly get the job done, and if I can't find a better answer that's what I'll have to do. However, I'd rather not have to paste that line after every CALL in my long and complex batch file. – Brown Dec 08 '09 at 18:47
  • This is just great! It should get all the upvotes! It cannot even be compared with Merilyn's monster-code, which I guess has eaten ate all those upvotes already! :) – Apostolos Jul 23 '21 at 08:11
3

This will exit current context and a parent context (i.e., when executed inside a one call deep subroutine script will exit):

(goto) 2>nul || exit /b

Or, if you need errorlevel 0:

(goto) 2>nul || (
    type nul>nul
    exit /b
)

Basically, (goto) 2>nul sets errorlevel to 1 (without outputting an error), returns execution to the parent context and code after double pipe is executed in parent context. type nul>nul sets errorlevel to 0.

UPD:

To return execution more than twice in a row, chain several (goto) 2>nul || like this: 

(goto) 2>nul || (goto) 2>nul || (goto) 2>nul || (
    type nul>nul
    exit /b
)

Here's a recursive subroutine to return context a variable number of times:

:Kill
(goto) 2>nul || (
    set /a depth=%1-1
    if %1 GEQ 1 (
        call:Kill !depth!
    )
    (goto) 2>nul || (type nul>nul)
)

When called from a recursive function:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
call:Recurs 5
echo This won't be printed
exit /b

:Recurs
set /a ri+=1
echo %ri%
if %ri% LSS %1 (
    call:Recurs %1
)
echo This will be printed only once
call:Kill %1
exit /b

the output will be:

1
2
3
4
5
This will be printed only once
HYBRID BEING
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1

If you do not want to come back from the procedure, don't use call: instead use goto.

@echo off
ECHO Quitting...
GOTO :QUIT
ECHO Will never be there!
GOTO END

:QUIT
EXIT /B 1

:END
EXIT /B 0
dolmen
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1

I put error handling in my batch files. You can call error handlers like this:

CALL :WARNING "This is" "an important" "warning."

And here is the end of the batch file:

::-------------------------------------------------------------------
::  Decisions
::-------------------------------------------------------------------
:INFO
IF "_DEBUG"=="true" (
  ECHO INFO: %~1
  IF NOT "%~2"=="" ECHO          %~2
  IF NOT "%~3"=="" ECHO          %~3
)
EXIT /B 0
:WARNING
ECHO WARNING: %~1
IF NOT "%~2"=="" ECHO          %~2
IF NOT "%~3"=="" ECHO          %~3
EXIT /B 0
:FAILURE
ECHO FAILURE: %~1
IF NOT "%~2"=="" ECHO          %~2
IF NOT "%~3"=="" ECHO          %~3
pause>nul
:END
ECHO Closing Server.bat script
FOR /l %%a in (5,-1,1) do (TITLE %TITLETEXT% -- closing in %%as&PING.exe -n 2 -w 1 127.0.0.1>nul)
djangofan
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