What does `return 0x1;` mean?

Question

When browsing the source of a project on web I've found some weird to me return statement in main:

int main()
{
    /* ... */
    return 0x1;
}

So main is returning 0x1 radix 16, but that's 1 radix 10! Shouldn't main return 0? That is incorrect, right? By the way is it Okay to return 0x0?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It returns 1. 0x1 Is just a hex value of 1.

You are free to return 0x0, too. It's just a different representation of 0. You could use octal, too, if you like :)

Answer 2

Simply put that translates to:

return 1;

by putting '0x' in front of the number allows you to enter Hexadecimal numbers into the source code e.g. 0xFF = 255

Its possible for your main function to return any value you want, this way you can effectively document any error conditions that may (or may not) have happened. If this program was called by a process that interrogates the return value, then if you change the return value to 0x0 (or just 0) then the calling program might change its behaviour unexpectedly.

Answer 3

The return value of main() is passed up to the external caller as the return value/error code of the executable for checking in e.g ERRORLEVEL or $?.

Answer 4

It means : return 1

you can use numbers in hexadecimal format like this 0x...

Answer 5

Yes, 0x1 (hexadecimal 1) is the same as 1 (decimal 1). So, the above is equivalent to plain return 1.

main is not required to return 0. main "should" return whatever its author wants it to return. They wanted to return 1 - they returned 1. They wanted to use hexadecimal notation - they used hexadecimal notation.

Someone just felt like doing it that way. There's no other explanation.

Answer 6

0x1 or 1 makes no difference. It's the same number. Consequently, you can return 0x0 as well - it's just a different way of writing 0 in your code.

However, assuming that return is the last line of code in your main block, you're right that it should probably not be returning 1: non-zero return codes from main signify failure, and if the program runs to the end, that's generally a sign of success - so you should return 0 in that case.

However, it is entirely possible to structure a program the other way around, so it is therefore also possible that returning 1 is correct here.

Answer 7

0x1 is just another way of writing 1! The literal 1 is same in decimal or hexadecimal. But its not always true, for example decimal 10 is not equal to hexadecimal 10.

In this example, main() is returning 1. Conventionally, any return value other than 0 is treated as unsuccesful completion.

Answer 8

0x1 is just hexadecimal for 1. After compiling there is no difference. 0x0 would be eqivalent to 0.

The return value of the main function is normally not used by the system. But if the program is called by other programs (eg. installers) it might get checked by them. It is common to return 0 if everything is ok and something else to indicate an error.

Answer 9

I think this info is helpful to u?
Results according to http://codepad.org/

1) int main()  {  return 0x0; } 
 Output: No errors or program output.

2) int main()  {  return 1x2; } //anythingxanything results below error
  error: invalid suffix "x2" on integer constant

3) int main()  {  return 0x2; } //0xanything results :exit failure except for 0
  Exited: ExitFailure 1

Results according http://www.comeaucomputing.com/tryitout/

except  2nd case it is compilng correctly(succeeded)

Results according

GCC[g++]  ---  error  return 1x0; except 2nd case all correct
EDG_compiler ---  error  return 1x0; except 2nd case all correct
Sun compiler ---  error  return 1x0; except 2nd case all correct

By seeing this results ..IT is treating 1st and 3rd case as hexadecimal .ANd remaining 2nd case as different(not at all a number)expression or variable ..etc