How do I stop an active AutoHotkey script?

Question

Yesterday while debugging my AutoHotkey script, I accidentally triggered an endless loop of MouseMove and MouseClick events. Every 0.5 seconds my mouse

Answer 1

You could also make your script #SingleInstance force and watch for a "-quit" argument or something.

#SingleInstance force
#Persistent

If A_Args[1] == "--stop"
    ExitApp

; just some random stuff for the script to do
count := 0
Loop,
{
    count++
    Tooltip, %count%
    Sleep, 200
}

So you run the same script again but with the argument. And BAM its gone.

Just for completeness. @Stevoisiak's answer is already great for the purpose requested.

Answer 2

If you want to close a specific window without doing a loop, I have created the following:

DetectHiddenWindows, On

path = %A_Desktop%\Test.ahk - AutoHotkey v1.1.26.01

path2 = %A_Desktop%\Test2.ahk - AutoHotkey v1.1.26.01

WinClose, %path%

WinClose, %path2%

**NOTE 1 : ** the file name + " - AutoHotKey blah blah blah" (This is the window name for hot key when you open the window hidden on your bottom right corner close to the clock)

**NOTE 2 : ** the file names have to be case sensitivity.

Answer 3

Add an emergency exit hotkey

The most reliable method of ending an active script is to pre-emptively include an emergency ExitApp hotkey. A common practice is to place the following at the bottom of any script.

Esc::ExitApp  ; Exit script with Escape key

You can also set hotkeys to pause, suspend, or reload your script.

^!p::Pause    ; Pause script with Ctrl+Alt+P
^!s::Suspend  ; Suspend script with Ctrl+Alt+S
^!r::Reload   ; Reload script with Ctrl+Alt+R

Log off

On Windows 10/8/7/Vista, you can quickly log off with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Delete, followed by Alt+L.

This is because pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete opens a special window which cannot be manipulated by programs like AutoHotkey.

End with taskbar icon

If you have control of the keyboard and mouse, you can end the script by right-clicking AutoHotkey's green H icon in the taskbar and selecting "Exit"

End all active scripts with AHKPanic()

For a more generic solution, AHK user None wrote AHKPanic(), a method which can pause, suspend, or kill all other running scripts. (Optionally ends the script that called it)

AHKPanic(Kill=0, Pause=0, Suspend=0, SelfToo=0) {
DetectHiddenWindows, On
WinGet, IDList ,List, ahk_class AutoHotkey
Loop %IDList%
  {
  ID:=IDList%A_Index%
  WinGetTitle, ATitle, ahk_id %ID%
  IfNotInString, ATitle, %A_ScriptFullPath%
    {
    If Suspend
      PostMessage, 0x111, 65305,,, ahk_id %ID%  ; Suspend. 
    If Pause
      PostMessage, 0x111, 65306,,, ahk_id %ID%  ; Pause.
    If Kill
      WinClose, ahk_id %ID% ;kill
    }
  }
If SelfToo
  {
  If Suspend
    Suspend, Toggle  ; Suspend. 
  If Pause
    Pause, Toggle, 1  ; Pause.
  If Kill
    ExitApp
  }
}

Answer 4

If you want to get fancy and stop it from the Windows command prompt,

Stop all autohotkey scripts with:

taskkill /im "autohotkey.exe"

Stop specific script with:

wmic process where "commandline like '%%MyScript.ahk'" delete