malloc(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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MALLOC(3)                 NetBSD Programmer's Manual                 MALLOC(3)


NAME

     malloc - general memory allocation function


SYNOPSIS

     #include <stdlib.h>

     void *
     malloc(size_t size);


DESCRIPTION

     The malloc() function allocates uninitialized space for an object whose
     size is specified by size. The malloc() function maintains multiple lists
     of free blocks according to size, allocating space from the appropriate
     list.

     The allocated space is suitably aligned (after possible pointer coercion)
     for storage of any type of object. If the space is of pagesize or larger,
     the memory returned will be page-aligned.


RETURN VALUES

     The malloc() function returns a pointer to the allocated space if suc-
     cessful; otherwise a null pointer is returned.


SEE ALSO

     brk(2),  alloca(3),  calloc(3),  free(3),  getpagesize(3),  memory(3),
     realloc(3)


STANDARDS

     The malloc() function conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C'').


BUGS

     The current implementation of malloc() does not always fail gracefully
     when system memory limits are approached.  It may fail to allocate memory
     when larger free blocks could be broken up, or when limits are exceeded
     because the size is rounded up.  It is optimized for sizes that are pow-
     ers of two.

4th Berkeley Distribution        June 29, 1991                               1