Bash Command to Exit Script in Terminal

Exiting a running Bash Script in Terminal

If for some reason a bash script is running too long and you want to exit its execution, then you can make press the keyboard keys Control + C.

Example:

bash-3.2$ ./script.sh 
^C

bash-3.2$ 

When you press Control + C you will see a ^C character displayed on the Terminal and you are returned back to the bash shell prompt.



To exit script execution the keyboard shortcut is the same regardless of your operating system - macOS/Ubuntu/Linux/Windows.

Exiting a Script from within a Bash Script

On the other hand if you want to exit the script from within it, then you can make use of the exit 0 command. When this command is encountered while execution the script will terminal and return back to the prompt.

Example:

#!/bin/bash

sleep 10
exit 0
echo "Hello there"

When you run the above script, it exits at line number 2, and the 3rd echo line is not printed.