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int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  /* ... */
  if (/* something really bad happened */) {
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }
  /* ... */
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

\[[ISO/IEC 9899-1999|AA. C References#ISO/IEC 9899-1999]\] C99 Section 5.1.2.2.3 has this to say about returning from {{main()}} \[[ISO/IEC 9899-1999|AA. C References#ISO/IEC 9899-1999]\]:

If the return type of the main function is a type compatible with int, a return from the initial call to the main function is equivalent to calling the exit function with the value returned by the main function as its argument; reaching the } that terminates the main function returns a value of 0. If the return type is not compatible with int, the termination status returned to the host environment is unspecified.

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