Ubuntu manuals

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NAME

        alloca - memory allocator
 

SYNOPSIS

        #include <stdlib.h>
 
        void *alloca( size_t size);
 

DESCRIPTION

        The alloca function allocates size bytes of space in the stack frame of
        the caller.  This temporary space is automatically freed on return.
        The alloca function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated
        space.  If the allocation failed, a NULL pointer is returned.
        There is evidence that the alloca function appeared in 32v, pwb, pwb.2,
        3bsd, and 4bsd.  There is a man page for it in BSD 4.3.  Linux uses the
        GNU version.
 

BUGS

        The alloca function is machine dependent.
        brk(2), pagesize(2), calloc(3), malloc(3), realloc(3)