To stop a program or function before it has finished naturally. The term abort refers to both requested and unexpected terminations. For example, many applications let you abort a search or a print job by pressing a specified abort key. On the other hand, programs can abort unexpectedly for any of the following reasons:
When a program aborts, you are usually returned to the operating system shell level. Contrast abort with crash, which makes the entire system, including the operating system, unusable.