Why does main need to return a value?

I read the FAQ and it told me that it should always return an int. The thing that I don't understand though is why it needs to return anything at all... Can you use something like "!C:\program.exe" to state whether or not it returned TRUE or FALSE? Or is int just the way C++ makes you to do it?

TIA

if you use
int main()
you must return a value because the main function states: main returns an int

if you use
void main()
you dont need to return a value

i think the first one is the standar now.

i will give you an example how i use the return value of main...

i have a program that "calls" other c++ programs, to check if that call was succesfull the main functions of each program must return a value, generally 0 if not succesfull and 1 if succesfull.

hope it helps, and please excuse my poor english

>if you use
>void main()
>you dont need to return a value
But then your code would be wrong and undefined, and that's bad.

>i think the first one is the standar now.
main has always returned int, from before day one. The only reason void was accepted on some implementations is because the vendors were braindead or forced into it by stupid customers.

>The thing that I don't understand though is why it needs to return anything at all...
First, the operating system might choose to do something different depending on whether the program returns a success or failure code. Second, the calling process might treat different failure codes differently because there are quite a few classes of errors that can occur. Third, you can write a batch file or shell script that takes advantage of the return value of a program that you call (this would be the calling process in that case).

>Or is int just the way C++ makes you to do it?
That too. The C++ standard states that main shall return int, and when the standard says "shall", it means you had better do it if you don't like demons flying out your nose. Pre-standard C++ still specified int as the return type of main, but lazy and stupid people thought that void was cooler. As it turns out, void is not cooler. Just in case you were wondering.

to check if that call was succesfull the main functions of each program must return a value, generally 0 if not succesfull and 1 if succesfull.

Actually, returning 0 from main() means success.

Originally Posted by jimboob

I read the FAQ and it told me that it should always return an int. The thing that I don't understand though is why it needs to return anything at all... Can you use something like "!C:\program.exe" to state whether or not it returned TRUE or FALSE? Or is int just the way C++ makes you to do it?

TIA

http://www.research.att.com/~bs/bs_faq2.html#void-main

Cool, thanks everyone.
I never knew that you could access the return value of main from another program. That could help heaps with the project that i'm currently working on.

sorry my mistake 0=succesfull
thanks bithub