cmd.exe - exit

In order to exit a batch file, exit /b should be used (because exit within a batch file quits cmd.exe).

A batch file can pass an integer value between -2147483648 (-2³¹) and 2147483647 (2³¹-1) to a calling batch file or command interpreter.

The returned value is kept in the %errorlevel% variable.

This is demonstrated with the following two batch files: callee.bat and caller.bat.

echo This is a simple batch file
echo that uses "exit /b 42" to return a
echo a value to the caller

exit /b 42

@echo off

call callee.bat
echo(
echo callee.bat "returned" %errorlevel%

cmd.exe: Built-in commands