gotcharustMajor

Why does Rust not have a return value in the main function, and how to return a value anyway?

Submitted by: @import:stackoverflow-api·Mar 10, 2026·

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howreturnfunctionhavewhyandvaluethemaindoes

Problem

In Rust the main function is defined like this:

fn main() {

}

This function does not allow for a return value though. Why would a language not allow for a return value and is there a way to return something anyway? Would I be able to safely use the C exit(int) function, or will this cause leaks and whatnot?

Solution

As of Rust 1.26, main can return a Result:

use std::fs::File;

fn main() -> Result {
    let f = File::open("bar.txt")?;

    Ok(())
}

The returned error code in this case is 1 in case of an error. With File::open("bar.txt").expect("file not found"); instead, an error value of 101 is returned (at least on my machine).

Also, if you want to return a more generic error, use:

use std::error::Error;
...

fn main() -> Result> {
   ...
}

Code Snippets

use std::fs::File;

fn main() -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
    let f = File::open("bar.txt")?;

    Ok(())
}

use std::error::Error;
...

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
   ...
}

Context

Stack Overflow Q#24245276, score: 90

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