Title: WP_CLI::halt()
Published: June 12, 2025
Last modified: April 20, 2026

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# WP_CLI::halt()

## In this article

 * [Usage](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#usage)
 * [Notes](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#notes)
 * [Related](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#related)

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Halt script execution with a specific return code.

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## 󠀁[Usage](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#usage)󠁿

    ```
    WP_CLI::halt( $return_code )
    ```

 **$return_code** (integer) 
 **@return** (never)

---

## 󠀁[Notes](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#notes)󠁿

Permits script execution to be overloaded by `WP_CLI::runcommand()`

When `--debug` is enabled, this method will also output a backtrace
 showing where
the halt was triggered from, making it easier to identify the cause of early termination.

_Internal APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary
that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly
defined ways. documentation is generated from the WP-CLIWP-CLI WP-CLI is the Command
Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in
a programmatic way. The project page is [http://wp-cli.org/](http://wp-cli.org/)
[https://make.wordpress.org/cli/](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/) codebase on every
release. To suggest improvements, please submit a pull request._

---

## 󠀁[Related](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

 * **[WP_CLI\Utils\format_items()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/)**–
   Render a collection of items as an ASCII table, JSONJSON JSON, or JavaScript 
   Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used
   primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative
   to XML., CSV, YAML, list of ids, or count.
 * **[WP_CLI\Utils\make_progress_bar()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-make-progress-bar/)**–
   Create a progress bar to display percent completion of a given operation.
 * **[WP_CLI::colorize()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-colorize/)**–
   Colorize a string for output.
 * **[WP_CLI::line()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-line/)**–
   Display informational message without prefix, and ignore `–quiet`.
 * **[WP_CLI::log()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-log/)**–
   Display informational message without prefix.
 * **[WP_CLI::success()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-success/)**–
   Display success message prefixed with "Success: ".
 * **[WP_CLI::debug()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-debug/)**–
   Display debug message prefixed with "Debug: " when `–debug` is used.
 * **[WP_CLI::warning()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-warning/)**–
   Display warning message prefixed with "Warning: ".
 * **[WP_CLI::error()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-error/)**–
   Display error message prefixed with "Error: " and exit script.
 * **[WP_CLI::error_multi_line()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-error-multi-line/)**–
   Display a multi-line error message in a red box. Doesn’t exit script.

First published

June 12, 2025

Last updated

April 20, 2026

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