focal (3) malloc.3posix.gz

Provided by: manpages-posix-dev_2013a-2_all bug

PROLOG
       This  manual  page  is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface
       may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface
       may not be implemented on Linux.


NAME
       malloc — a memory allocator


SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       void *malloc(size_t size);


DESCRIPTION
       The  functionality  described  on  this  reference  page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict
       between the requirements described  here  and  the  ISO C  standard  is  unintentional.  This  volume  of
       POSIX.1‐2008 defers to the ISO C standard.

       The  malloc() function shall allocate unused space for an object whose size in bytes is specified by size
       and whose value is unspecified.

       The order and contiguity of storage allocated by successive calls to malloc() is unspecified. The pointer
       returned  if the allocation succeeds shall be suitably aligned so that it may be assigned to a pointer to
       any type of object and then used to access such an object in the space  allocated  (until  the  space  is
       explicitly  freed  or reallocated). Each such allocation shall yield a pointer to an object disjoint from
       any other object. The pointer returned points to the start (lowest byte address) of the allocated  space.
       If the space cannot be allocated, a null pointer shall be returned. If the size of the space requested is
       0, the behavior is implementation-defined: the value returned shall be either a null pointer or a  unique
       pointer.


RETURN VALUE
       Upon  successful  completion  with  size not equal to 0, malloc() shall return a pointer to the allocated
       space. If size is 0, either a null pointer or a unique pointer that can be successfully passed to  free()
       shall be returned. Otherwise, it shall return a null pointer and set errno to indicate the error.


ERRORS
       The malloc() function shall fail if:

       ENOMEM Insufficient storage space is available.

       The following sections are informative.


EXAMPLES
       None.


APPLICATION USAGE
       None.


RATIONALE
       None.


FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.


SEE ALSO
       calloc(), free(), getrlimit(), posix_memalign(), realloc()

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, <stdlib.h>


       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition,
       Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc
       and The Open Group.  (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In  the  event
       of  any  discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original
       IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
       http://www.unix.org/online.html .

       Any  typographical  or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced
       during  the  conversion  of  the  source  files  to  man  page  format.  To  report  such   errors,   see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .