How to terminate a Python script

Question

I am aware of the die() command in PHP which exits a script early.

How can I do this in Python?

Answer 1

A simple way to terminate a Python script early is to use the built-in quit() function. There is no need to import any library, and it is efficient and simple.

Example:

#do stuff
if this == that:
  quit()

Answer 2

You can also use simply exit().

Keep in mind that sys.exit(), exit(), quit(), and os._exit(0) kill the Python interpreter. Therefore, if it appears in a script called from another script by execfile(), it stops execution of both scripts.

See "Stop execution of a script called with execfile" to avoid this.

Answer 3

Another way is:

raise SystemExit

Answer 4

I've just found out that when writing a multithreadded app, raise SystemExit and sys.exit() both kills only the running thread. On the other hand, os._exit() exits the whole process. This was discussed in "Why does sys.exit() not exit when called inside a thread in Python?".

The example below has 2 threads. Kenny and Cartman. Cartman is supposed to live forever, but Kenny is called recursively and should die after 3 seconds. (recursive calling is not the best way, but I had other reasons)

If we also want Cartman to die when Kenny dies, Kenny should go away with os._exit, otherwise, only Kenny will die and Cartman will live forever.

import threading
import time
import sys
import os

def kenny(num=0):
    if num > 3:
        # print("Kenny dies now...")
        # raise SystemExit #Kenny will die, but Cartman will live forever
        # sys.exit(1) #Same as above

        print("Kenny dies and also kills Cartman!")
        os._exit(1)
    while True:
        print("Kenny lives: {0}".format(num))
        time.sleep(1)
        num += 1
        kenny(num)

def cartman():
    i = 0
    while True:
        print("Cartman lives: {0}".format(i))
        i += 1
        time.sleep(1)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    daemon_kenny = threading.Thread(name='kenny', target=kenny)
    daemon_cartman = threading.Thread(name='cartman', target=cartman)
    daemon_kenny.setDaemon(True)
    daemon_cartman.setDaemon(True)

    daemon_kenny.start()
    daemon_cartman.start()
    daemon_kenny.join()
    daemon_cartman.join()