C++ Primer Plus

Calling abort()

One way to handle this is to have the function call the abort() function if one argument is the negative of the other. The abort() function has its prototype in the cstdlib (or stdlib.h) header file. A typical implementation, if called, sends a message such as “abnormal program termination” to the standard error stream (the same as the one used by cerr) and terminates the program. It also returns an implementation-dependent value that indicates failure to the operating system or, if the program was initiated by another program, to the parent process. Whether abort() flushes file buffers (that is, memory areas used to store material for transfers to and from files) depends on the implementation. If you prefer, you can use exit() ...