If a script prints an error message to standard error using redirection, what is the conventional exit code to indicate failure?

• A. 1
• B. 0
• C. 2
• D. 255

Answer: (A)

Exit statuses communicate success or failure to the caller. In Unix-like systems, 0 means success, while any non-zero value signals failure. For a script that encounters a general error and prints an error message to standard error, the conventional exit code is 1 because it represents a general, non-specific failure. This choice clearly indicates to other processes and scripts that something went wrong, regardless of the exact error. Redirecting output to standard error does not automatically set the exit status; you typically exit with 1 after printing the error. Other codes exist for more specific situations, but 1 is the standard general failure code.