C error handling at end of program

Question

I have read through a lot of tutorials and beginner questions on error handling in C. They all (well most) seem to go in this direction:

int main(){

if(condition){
    fprintf(stderr, "Something went wrong");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE); // QUIT THE PROGRAM NOW, EXAMPLE: ERROR OPENING FILE
}

exit(0)
}

My question: is there any particular function in C that lets me catch an error, but only affect the status of the program (main) when it exits? Example of my idea:

int main(){

if(condition){
    fprintf(stderr, "Something went wrong");
    // Continue with code but change exit-status for the program to -1 (EXIT_FAILURE)
}

exit(IF ERROR CATCHED = -1)
}

Or do I have to create some custom function or use some pointer?

Answer 1

Well, you don't have to call exit() if you want to continue, right? You can use a variable that affects main()'s exit code.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void){
   int main_exit_code = EXIT_SUCCESS;

   if(condition){
      fprintf(stderr, "Something went wrong");
      main_exit_code = -1; /* or EXIT_FAILURE */
   }

   return (main_exit_code);
}

But do note that depending on the kind of errors you encounter, it may not make sense to continue execution in all cases. So, I'll leave that to you decide.