NAME

     explicit_bzero — write zeroes to a byte string

LIBRARY

     library “libbsd”

SYNOPSIS

     #include <bsd/string.h>

     void
     explicit_bzero(void *buf, size_t len);

DESCRIPTION

     The explicit_bzero() function writes len zero bytes to the string buf.  If len is zero,
     explicit_bzero() does nothing.

     The explicit_bzero() variant behaves the same as the bzero() function, but will not be
     removed by a compiler's dead store optimization pass, making it useful for clearing
     sensitive memory such as a password.

SEE ALSO

     bzero(3), memset(3), swab(3)

HISTORY

     The explicit_bzero() function first appeared in OpenBSD 5.5.