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MALLOC(3)                                                               Linux Programmer's Manual                                                              MALLOC(3)

NAME
       malloc, free, calloc, realloc, reallocarray - allocate and free dynamic memory

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       void *malloc(size_t size);
       void free(void *ptr);
       void *calloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size);
       void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
       void *reallocarray(void *ptr, size_t nmemb, size_t size);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       reallocarray():
           Since glibc 2.29:
               _DEFAULT_SOURCE
           Glibc 2.28 and earlier:
               _GNU_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
       The  malloc()  function  allocates size bytes and returns a pointer to the allocated memory.  The memory is not initialized.  If size is 0, then malloc() returns
       either NULL, or a unique pointer value that can later be successfully passed to free().

       The free() function frees the memory space pointed to by ptr, which must have been returned by a previous call to malloc(), calloc(), or  realloc().   Otherwise,
       or if free(ptr) has already been called before, undefined behavior occurs.  If ptr is NULL, no operation is performed.

       The  calloc()  function  allocates  memory for an array of nmemb elements of size bytes each and returns a pointer to the allocated memory.  The memory is set to
       zero.  If nmemb or size is 0, then calloc() returns either NULL, or a unique pointer value that can later be successfully passed to free().  If  the  multiplica‐
       tion of nmemb and size would result in integer overflow, then calloc() returns an error.  By contrast, an integer overflow would not be detected in the following
       call to malloc(), with the result that an incorrectly sized block of memory would be allocated:

           malloc(nmemb * size);

       The realloc() function changes the size of the memory block pointed to by ptr to size bytes.  The contents will be unchanged in the range from the start  of  the
       region  up to the minimum of the old and new sizes.  If the new size is larger than the old size, the added memory will not be initialized.  If ptr is NULL, then
       the call is equivalent to malloc(size), for all values of size; if size is equal to zero, and ptr is not NULL, then the call is equivalent to free(ptr) (this be‐
       havior  is  nonportable; see NOTES).  Unless ptr is NULL, it must have been returned by an earlier call to malloc(), calloc(), or realloc().  If the area pointed
       to was moved, a free(ptr) is done.

       The reallocarray() function changes the size of the memory block pointed to by ptr to be large enough for an array of nmemb  elements,  each  of  which  is  size
       bytes.  It is equivalent to the call

               realloc(ptr, nmemb * size);

       However, unlike that realloc() call, reallocarray() fails safely in the case where the multiplication would overflow.  If such an overflow occurs, reallocarray()
       returns NULL, sets errno to ENOMEM, and leaves the original block of memory unchanged.

RETURN VALUE
       The malloc() and calloc() functions return a pointer to the allocated memory, which is suitably aligned for any built-in type.  On error, these functions  return
       NULL.  NULL may also be returned by a successful call to malloc() with a size of zero, or by a successful call to calloc() with nmemb or size equal to zero.

       The free() function returns no value.

       The  realloc() function returns a pointer to the newly allocated memory, which is suitably aligned for any built-in type, or NULL if the request failed.  The re‐
       turned pointer may be the same as ptr if the allocation was not moved (e.g., there was room to expand the allocation in-place), or different from ptr if the  al‐
       location  was  moved  to  a  new address.  If size was equal to 0, either NULL or a pointer suitable to be passed to free() is returned.  If realloc() fails, the
       original block is left untouched; it is not freed or moved.

       On success, the reallocarray() function returns a pointer to the newly allocated memory.  On failure, it returns NULL and the original block of  memory  is  left
       untouched.

ERRORS
       calloc(), malloc(), realloc(), and reallocarray() can fail with the following error:

       ENOMEM Out of memory.  Possibly, the application hit the RLIMIT_AS or RLIMIT_DATA limit described in getrlimit(2).

VERSIONS
       reallocarray() first appeared in glibc in version 2.26.

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

       β”Œβ”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”¬β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”¬β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”
       β”‚Interface                                                                                                                             β”‚ Attribute     β”‚ Value   β”‚
       β”œβ”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”Όβ”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”Όβ”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€
       β”‚malloc(), free(), calloc(), realloc()                                                                                                 β”‚ Thread safety β”‚ MT-Safe β”‚
       β””β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”΄β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”΄β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”€β”˜

CONFORMING TO
       malloc(), free(), calloc(), realloc(): POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99.

       reallocarray() is a nonstandard extension that first appeared in OpenBSD 5.6 and FreeBSD 11.0.

NOTES
       By  default, Linux follows an optimistic memory allocation strategy.  This means that when malloc() returns non-NULL there is no guarantee that the memory really
       is available.  In case it turns out that the system is out of memory, one or more processes will be killed by the OOM killer.  For more information, see the  de‐
       scription of /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory and /proc/sys/vm/oom_adj in proc(5), and the Linux kernel source file Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst.

       Normally,  malloc()  allocates  memory  from the heap, and adjusts the size of the heap as required, using sbrk(2).  When allocating blocks of memory larger than
       MMAP_THRESHOLD bytes, the glibc malloc() implementation allocates the memory as a private anonymous mapping using mmap(2).  MMAP_THRESHOLD is 128 kB by  default,
       but  is  adjustable using mallopt(3).  Prior to Linux 4.7 allocations performed using mmap(2) were unaffected by the RLIMIT_DATA resource limit; since Linux 4.7,
       this limit is also enforced for allocations performed using mmap(2).

       To avoid corruption in multithreaded applications, mutexes are used internally to protect the memory-management data structures employed by these functions.   In
       a multithreaded application in which threads simultaneously allocate and free memory, there could be contention for these mutexes.  To scalably handle memory al‐
       location in multithreaded applications, glibc creates additional memory allocation arenas if mutex contention is detected.  Each arena is a large region of memo‐
       ry that is internally allocated by the system (using brk(2) or mmap(2)), and managed with its own mutexes.

       SUSv2  requires malloc(), calloc(), and realloc() to set errno to ENOMEM upon failure.  Glibc assumes that this is done (and the glibc versions of these routines
       do this); if you use a private malloc implementation that does not set errno, then certain library routines may fail without having a reason in errno.

       Crashes in malloc(), calloc(), realloc(), or free() are almost always related to heap corruption, such as overflowing an allocated  chunk  or  freeing  the  same
       pointer twice.

       The malloc() implementation is tunable via environment variables; see mallopt(3) for details.

   Nonportable behavior
       The  behavior  of  realloc()  when size is equal to zero, and ptr is not NULL, is glibc specific; other implementations may return NULL, and set errno.  Portable
       POSIX programs should avoid it.  See realloc(3p).

SEE ALSO
       valgrind(1), brk(2), mmap(2), alloca(3), malloc_get_state(3), malloc_info(3), malloc_trim(3), malloc_usable_size(3), mallopt(3), mcheck(3), mtrace(3),
       posix_memalign(3)

       For details of the GNU C library implementation, see ⟨https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/MallocInternals⟩.

GNU                                                                            2021-03-22                                                                      MALLOC(3)