NAME

       free - free allocated memory

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       void free(void *ptr);

DESCRIPTION

       The  free()  function  shall cause the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated; that is,
       made available for further allocation. If ptr is a null pointer, no  action  shall  occur.
       Otherwise,  if  the  argument  does  not match a pointer earlier returned by the calloc(),
       malloc(), posix_memalign(),  realloc(), or   strdup()  function, or if the space has  been
       deallocated by a call to free() or realloc(), the behavior is undefined.

       Any use of a pointer that refers to freed space results in undefined behavior.

RETURN VALUE

       The free() function shall not return a value.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       There is now no requirement for the implementation to support the inclusion of <malloc.h>.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       calloc()  ,  malloc()  ,  realloc() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       <stdlib.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and  reproduced  in  electronic  form  from  IEEE  Std
       1003.1,  2003  Edition,  Standard  for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System
       Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003  by
       the  Institute  of  Electrical  and  Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. 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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .