mallopt man page on OpenIndiana

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malloc(3MALLOC)	      Memory Allocation Library Functions      malloc(3MALLOC)

NAME
       malloc,	free,  memalign,  realloc, valloc, calloc, mallopt, mallinfo -
       memory allocator

SYNOPSIS
       cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lmalloc [ library ... ]
       #include <stdlib.h>

       void *malloc(size_t size);

       void free(void *ptr);

       void *memalign(size_t alignment, size_t size);

       void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);

       void *valloc(size_t size);

       void *calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize);

       #include <malloc.h>

       int mallopt(int cmd, int value);

       struct mallinfo mallinfo(void);

DESCRIPTION
       The malloc() and free() functions provide a simple general-purpose mem‐
       ory allocation package.

       The  malloc()  function	returns	 a pointer to a block of at least size
       bytes suitably aligned for any use.

       The argument to free() is a pointer to a block previously allocated  by
       malloc().  After	 free() is performed, this space is made available for
       further allocation, and its contents have been destroyed. See mallopt()
       below  for  a way to change this behavior. If ptr is a null pointer, no
       action occurs.

       Undefined results occur if the space assigned by malloc() is overrun or
       if some random number is handed to free().

       The free() function does not set errno.

       The  memalign()	function allocates size bytes on a specified alignment
       boundary and returns a pointer to the allocated block. The value of the
       returned address is guaranteed to be an even multiple of alignment. The
       value of alignment must be a power of two and must be greater  than  or
       equal to the size of a word.

       The  realloc() function changes the size of the block pointed to by ptr
       to size bytes and returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) block.  The
       contents	 will  be unchanged up to the lesser of the new and old sizes.
       If the new size of the block requires movement of the block, the	 space
       for  the	 previous instantiation of the block is freed. If the new size
       is larger, the contents of the newly allocated portion of the block are
       unspecified.  If	 ptr  is NULL, realloc() behaves like malloc() for the
       specified size. If size is 0 and ptr is not a null pointer,  the	 space
       pointed to is freed.

       The  valloc() function has the same effect as malloc(), except that the
       allocated memory will be aligned to a multiple of the value returned by
       sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE).

       The calloc() function allocates space for an array of nelem elements of
       size elsize. The space is initialized to zeros.

       The mallopt() function provides for control over the  allocation	 algo‐
       rithm. The available values for cmd are:

       M_MXFAST	   Set	maxfast	 to  value. The algorithm allocates all blocks
		   below the size of maxfast in large groups  and  then	 doles
		   them out very quickly. The default value for maxfast is 24.

       M_NLBLKS	   Set numlblks to value. The above mentioned ``large groups''
		   each contain numlblks blocks.   numlblks  must  be  greater
		   than 0. The default value for numlblks is 100.

       M_GRAIN	   Set	grain  to  value. The sizes of all blocks smaller than
		   maxfast are considered to be rounded up to the nearest mul‐
		   tiple  of  grain. grain must be greater than 0. The default
		   value of grain is the smallest number of  bytes  that  will
		   allow  alignment of any data type. Value will be rounded up
		   to a multiple of the default when grain is set.

       M_KEEP	   Preserve data in a freed block  until  the  next  malloc(),
		   realloc(),  or  calloc().  This option is provided only for
		   compatibility with the old version of malloc(), and	it  is
		   not recommended.

       These values are defined in the <malloc.h> header.

       The  mallopt()  function can be called repeatedly, but cannot be called
       after the first small block is allocated.

       The  mallinfo()	function  provides  instrumentation  describing	 space
       usage. It returns the mallinfo structure with the following members:

	 unsigned long arena;	   /* total space in arena */
	 unsigned long ordblks;	   /* number of ordinary blocks */
	 unsigned long smblks;	   /* number of small blocks */
	 unsigned long hblkhd;	   /* space in holding block headers */
	 unsigned long hblks;	   /* number of holding blocks */
	 unsigned long usmblks;	   /* space in small blocks in use */
	 unsigned long fsmblks;	   /* space in free small blocks */
	 unsigned long uordblks;   /* space in ordinary blocks in use */
	 unsigned long fordblks;   /* space in free ordinary blocks */
	 unsigned long keepcost;   /* space penalty if keep option */
				   /* is used */

       The mallinfo structure is defined in the <malloc.h> header.

       Each  of	 the  allocation  routines returns a pointer to space suitably
       aligned (after possible pointer coercion) for storage of	 any  type  of
       object.

RETURN VALUES
       The  malloc(),  memalign(), realloc(), valloc(), and calloc() functions
       return a null pointer if there is not  enough  available	 memory.  When
       realloc()  returns NULL, the block pointed to by ptr is left intact. If
       size, nelem, or elsize is 0, either a null pointer or a unique  pointer
       that  can be passed to free() is returned. If mallopt() is called after
       any allocation or if cmd or value are  invalid,	a  non-zero  value  is
       returned. Otherwise, it returns 0.

ERRORS
       If  malloc(),  calloc(), or realloc() returns  unsuccessfully, errno is
       set to indicate the error:

       ENOMEM	 size bytes of memory exceeds the physical limits of your sys‐
		 tem, and cannot be allocated.

       EAGAIN	 There is not enough memory available at this point in time to
		 allocate size bytes of memory; but the application could  try
		 again later.

USAGE
       Unlike  malloc(3C),  this  package  does not preserve the contents of a
       block when it is freed, unless  the M_KEEP option of mallopt() is used.

       Undocumented features of	 malloc(3C) have not been duplicated.

       Function prototypes for malloc(), realloc(), calloc(), and  free()  are
       also defined in the <malloc.h> header for compatibility with old appli‐
       cations. New applications  should include <stdlib.h> to access the pro‐
       totypes for these functions.

       Comparative  features  of the various allocation libraries can be found
       in the umem_alloc(3MALLOC) manual page.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     │	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │MT-Level		     │Safe			   │
       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

SEE ALSO
       brk(2),	bsdmalloc(3MALLOC),  libmtmalloc(3LIB),	 malloc(3C),   mapmal‐
       loc(3MALLOC), mtmalloc(3MALLOC), umem_alloc(3MALLOC), watchmalloc(3MAL‐
       LOC), attributes(5)

SunOS 5.11			  11 May 2005		       malloc(3MALLOC)
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