exit Statement

The exit statement terminates the script immediately with a success status. It accepts an optional string message that must appear on the same line.

exit                                # Clean exit, no message
exit "Processing complete"          # Clean exit with message

Behaviour

• The script stops executing at the exit statement
• The Data context is returned to the host with all modifications made up to that point
• If a message is provided, it is reported to the host as an informational message
• exit terminates the entire script even when called from inside a user-defined function

func Validate(x)
    if x is null then
        exit "missing required value"    # terminates the entire script
    end
    return x * 2
end

Data.result = Validate(Data.input)

Message must be on the same line

The message is part of the exit statement syntax. If placed on a separate line, it becomes an independent string expression statement - not an exit message.

# CORRECT
exit "Done"

# INCORRECT - "Done" is a separate statement that never executes
exit
"Done"

Comparison with return and fail

Keyword	Effect	Valid where
exit	Terminate the script cleanly (success)	Anywhere
fail	Terminate the script with an error (failure)	Anywhere
return	Return a value from a function	Inside functions only

exit and fail both terminate the entire script - even from inside functions. return exits the current function and resumes at the call site. See fail and return for details.