`exit`/`return` takes only one argument

Problem

`exit [n]` and `return [n]` take at most one argument, the numeric status code. If you pass additional words, Bash does not error — it simply ignores everything after the first argument, so code that tries to pass a message and a status together, like `exit "Error occurred" 1`, actually exits with the (non-numeric, so coerced) status from the first word and silently drops the rest. This is often the result of trying to combine an error message and an exit code in one statement, which the shell does not support directly.

Bad

if [ ! -f "$config" ]; then
  exit "Config file not found" 1
fi

Good

if [ ! -f "$config" ]; then
  echo "Config file not found" >&2
  exit 1
fi

Explanation

Print any diagnostic message separately (typically to stderr with `>&2`) and then call `exit`/`return` with only the numeric status. This keeps the exit status meaningful for callers checking `$?` while still surfacing a human-readable message.

Related

SC2152

SC2181

SC2148

When It Matters

exit takes a single integer between 0 and 255. exit "$msg" or exit 1 "failed" is a syntax or range error, and in some shells it exits with a status you did not choose — frequently 0, which tells the caller that a failed script succeeded. Since CI systems and orchestrators branch on exit status, a wrong status is the difference between a pipeline that stops and one that ships broken output.

Second Example

Exceptions

None. If several failure modes need to be distinguished, define named status codes as constants at the top of the script and exit with those.

Faq