NAME

       malloc - a memory allocator

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       void *malloc(size_t size);

DESCRIPTION

       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()  ,  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 .