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NAME
mallinfo - obtain memory allocation information
SYNOPSIS
#include <malloc.h>
struct mallinfo mallinfo(void);
DESCRIPTION
The mallinfo() function returns a copy of a structure containing information about memory
allocations performed by malloc(3) and related functions.
Note that not all allocations are visible to mallinfo(); see BUGS and consider using
malloc_info(3) instead.
The returned structure is defined as follows:
struct mallinfo {
int arena; /* Non-mmapped space allocated (bytes) */
int ordblks; /* Number of free chunks */
int smblks; /* Number of free fastbin blocks */
int hblks; /* Number of mmapped regions */
int hblkhd; /* Space allocated in mmapped regions (bytes) */
int usmblks; /* See below */
int fsmblks; /* Space in freed fastbin blocks (bytes) */
int uordblks; /* Total allocated space (bytes) */
int fordblks; /* Total free space (bytes) */
int keepcost; /* Top-most, releasable space (bytes) */
};
The fields of the mallinfo structure contain the following information:
arena The total amount of memory allocated by means other than mmap(2) (i.e., memory
allocated on the heap). This figure includes both in-use blocks and blocks on
the free list.
ordblks The number of ordinary (i.e., non-fastbin) free blocks.
smblks The number of fastbin free blocks (see mallopt(3)).
hblks The number of blocks currently allocated using mmap(2). (See the discussion of
M_MMAP_THRESHOLD in mallopt(3).)
hblkhd The number of bytes in blocks currently allocated using mmap(2).
usmblks This field is unused, and is always 0. Historically, it was the "highwater
mark" for allocated space—that is, the maximum amount of space that was ever
allocated (in bytes); this field was maintained only in nonthreading
environments.
fsmblks The total number of bytes in fastbin free blocks.
uordblks The total number of bytes used by in-use allocations.
fordblks The total number of bytes in free blocks.
keepcost The total amount of releasable free space at the top of the heap. This is the
maximum number of bytes that could ideally (i.e., ignoring page alignment
restrictions, and so on) be released by malloc_trim(3).
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
┌───────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐
│Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├───────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│mallinfo() │ Thread safety │ MT-Unsafe init const:mallopt │
└───────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
mallinfo() would access some global internal objects. If modify them with non-atomically,
may get inconsistent results. The identifier mallopt in const:mallopt mean that mallopt()
would modify the global internal objects with atomics, that make sure mallinfo() is safe
enough, others modify with non-atomically maybe not.
CONFORMING TO
This function is not specified by POSIX or the C standards. A similar function exists on
many System V derivatives, and was specified in the SVID.
BUGS
Information is returned for only the main memory allocation area. Allocations in other
arenas are excluded. See malloc_stats(3) and malloc_info(3) for alternatives that include
information about other arenas.
The fields of the mallinfo structure are typed as int. However, because some internal
bookkeeping values may be of type long, the reported values may wrap around zero and thus
be inaccurate.
EXAMPLES
The program below employs mallinfo() to retrieve memory allocation statistics before and
after allocating and freeing some blocks of memory. The statistics are displayed on
standard output.
The first two command-line arguments specify the number and size of blocks to be allocated
with malloc(3).
The remaining three arguments specify which of the allocated blocks should be freed with
free(3). These three arguments are optional, and specify (in order): the step size to be
used in the loop that frees blocks (the default is 1, meaning free all blocks in the
range); the ordinal position of the first block to be freed (default 0, meaning the first
allocated block); and a number one greater than the ordinal position of the last block to
be freed (default is one greater than the maximum block number). If these three arguments
are omitted, then the defaults cause all allocated blocks to be freed.
In the following example run of the program, 1000 allocations of 100 bytes are performed,
and then every second allocated block is freed:
$ ./a.out 1000 100 2
============== Before allocating blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 0
# of free chunks (ordblks): 1
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 0
Total free space (fordblks): 0
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 0
============== After allocating blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 135168
# of free chunks (ordblks): 1
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 104000
Total free space (fordblks): 31168
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 31168
============== After freeing blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 135168
# of free chunks (ordblks): 501
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 52000
Total free space (fordblks): 83168
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 31168
Program source
#include <malloc.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static void
display_mallinfo(void)
{
struct mallinfo mi;
mi = mallinfo();
printf("Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): %d\n", mi.arena);
printf("# of free chunks (ordblks): %d\n", mi.ordblks);
printf("# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): %d\n", mi.smblks);
printf("# of mapped regions (hblks): %d\n", mi.hblks);
printf("Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): %d\n", mi.hblkhd);
printf("Max. total allocated space (usmblks): %d\n", mi.usmblks);
printf("Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): %d\n", mi.fsmblks);
printf("Total allocated space (uordblks): %d\n", mi.uordblks);
printf("Total free space (fordblks): %d\n", mi.fordblks);
printf("Topmost releasable block (keepcost): %d\n", mi.keepcost);
}
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
#define MAX_ALLOCS 2000000
char *alloc[MAX_ALLOCS];
int numBlocks, freeBegin, freeEnd, freeStep;
size_t blockSize;
if (argc < 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "--help") == 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s num-blocks block-size [free-step "
"[start-free [end-free]]]\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
numBlocks = atoi(argv[1]);
blockSize = atoi(argv[2]);
freeStep = (argc > 3) ? atoi(argv[3]) : 1;
freeBegin = (argc > 4) ? atoi(argv[4]) : 0;
freeEnd = (argc > 5) ? atoi(argv[5]) : numBlocks;
printf("============== Before allocating blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo();
for (int j = 0; j < numBlocks; j++) {
if (numBlocks >= MAX_ALLOCS) {
fprintf(stderr, "Too many allocations\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
alloc[j] = malloc(blockSize);
if (alloc[j] == NULL) {
perror("malloc");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
printf("\n============== After allocating blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo();
for (int j = freeBegin; j < freeEnd; j += freeStep)
free(alloc[j]);
printf("\n============== After freeing blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo();
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
mmap(2), malloc(3), malloc_info(3), malloc_stats(3), malloc_trim(3), mallopt(3)
COLOPHON
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