feat: Add SetHelpExitCode to allow custom exit codes on help

command.go

@@ -257,6 +257,23 @@ type Command struct {
 	// SuggestionsMinimumDistance defines minimum levenshtein distance to display suggestions.
 	// Must be > 0.
 	SuggestionsMinimumDistance int
+
+	// helpExitCode is the exit code to return when the help flag is used.
+	// If 0 (default), the program returns nil error (exit code 0).
+	helpExitCode int
+}
+type ExitError struct {
+	Code int
+}
+
+func (e *ExitError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("command requested exit with code %d", e.Code)
+}
+
+// SetHelpExitCode sets the exit code to return when help is shown.
+// If set to a non-zero value, Execute() will return an ExitError wrapping this code.
+func (c *Command) SetHelpExitCode(code int) {
+	c.helpExitCode = code
 }
 
 // Context returns underlying command context. If command was executed
@@ -1151,6 +1168,10 @@ func (c *Command) ExecuteC() (cmd *Command, err error) {
 		// effect
 		if errors.Is(err, flag.ErrHelp) {
 			cmd.HelpFunc()(cmd, args)
+			// If the user set a custom exit code for help, return a structured ExitError
+			if cmd.helpExitCode != 0 {
+				return cmd, &ExitError{Code: cmd.helpExitCode}
+			}
 			return cmd, nil
 		}
 

command_test.go

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package cobra
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
@@ -2952,3 +2953,35 @@ func TestHelpFuncExecuted(t *testing.T) {
 
 	checkStringContains(t, output, helpText)
 }
+
+// command_test.go
+
+func TestHelpExitCode(t *testing.T) {
+	// 1. Create a dummy command
+	cmd := &Command{Use: "test", Run: func(*Command, []string) {}}
+
+	// 2. Set the custom exit code
+	expectedCode := 42
+	cmd.SetHelpExitCode(expectedCode)
+
+	// 3. Force help flag
+	cmd.SetArgs([]string{"--help"})
+
+	// 4. Run it
+	_, err := cmd.ExecuteC()
+
+	// 5. Verify we got an error
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Expected an error because SetHelpExitCode(42) was called, but got nil")
+	}
+
+	// 6. Verify the error is the correct TYPE and contains the correct CODE
+	var exitErr *ExitError
+	if errors.As(err, &exitErr) {
+		if exitErr.Code != expectedCode {
+			t.Errorf("Expected exit code %d, got %d", expectedCode, exitErr.Code)
+		}
+	} else {
+		t.Errorf("Expected error to be of type *ExitError, got %T: %v", err, err)
+	}
+}