NAME

       alloca - allocate memory that is automatically freed

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <alloca.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 when the function that called alloca() returns
       to its caller.

RETURN VALUE

       The  alloca()  function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated space.  If the
       allocation causes stack overflow, program behavior is undefined.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │Interface                                                      │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │alloca()                                                       │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS

       None.

HISTORY

       PWB, 32V.

NOTES

       The alloca() function is machine- and compiler-dependent.  Because it allocates  from  the
       stack,  it's  faster  than  malloc(3) and free(3).  In certain cases, it can also simplify
       memory deallocation in applications that use longjmp(3) or siglongjmp(3).  Otherwise,  its
       use is discouraged.

       Because the space allocated by alloca() is allocated within the stack frame, that space is
       automatically freed if the function return is jumped over  by  a  call  to  longjmp(3)  or
       siglongjmp(3).

       The  space  allocated  by  alloca()  is  not automatically deallocated if the pointer that
       refers to it simply goes out of scope.

       Do not attempt to free(3) space allocated by alloca()!

       By necessity, alloca() is a compiler  built-in,  also  known  as  __builtin_alloca().   By
       default,  modern compilers automatically translate all uses of alloca() into the built-in,
       but this is forbidden if standards conformance is requested  (-ansi,  -std=c*),  in  which
       case <alloca.h> is required, lest a symbol dependency be emitted.

       The  fact  that  alloca()  is  a built-in means it is impossible to take its address or to
       change its behavior by linking with a different library.

       Variable length arrays (VLAs) are part of the C99 standard, optional since C11, and can be
       used  for  a  similar  purpose.   However,  they  do  not port to standard C++, and, being
       variables, live in their block scope and don't have an  allocator-like  interface,  making
       them unfit for implementing functionality like strdupa(3).

BUGS

       Due to the nature of the stack, it is impossible to check if the allocation would overflow
       the space available, and, hence, neither is indicating an error.  (However, the program is
       likely to receive a SIGSEGV signal if it attempts to access unavailable space.)

       On  many  systems alloca() cannot be used inside the list of arguments of a function call,
       because the stack space reserved by alloca() would appear on the stack in  the  middle  of
       the space for the function arguments.

SEE ALSO

       brk(2), longjmp(3), malloc(3)