memory(n)						       Tcl Built-In Commands							 memory(n)

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NAME

       memory - Control Tcl memory debugging capabilities.

SYNOPSIS

       memory option ?arg arg ...?
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DESCRIPTION

       The  memory  command  gives  the  Tcl developer control of Tcl's memory debugging capabilities.	The memory command has several suboptions,
       which are described below.  It is only available when Tcl has been compiled with memory debugging enabled (when TCL_MEM_DEBUG is defined at
       compile time), and after Tcl_InitMemory has been called.

       memory active file
	      Write a list of all currently allocated memory to the specified file.

       memory break_on_malloc count
	      After the count allocations have been performed, ckalloc outputs a message to this effect and that it is now attempting to enter the
	      C debugger.  Tcl will then issue a SIGINT signal against itself.	If you are running Tcl under a C debugger, it  should  then  enter
	      the debugger command mode.

       memory info
	      Returns  a  report  containing the total allocations and frees since Tcl began, the current packets allocated (the current number of
	      calls to ckalloc not met by a corresponding call to ckfree), the current bytes allocated, and the  maximum  number  of  packets  and
	      bytes allocated.

	memory init [on|off]
	      Turn  on or off the pre-initialization of all allocated memory with bogus bytes.	Useful for detecting the use of uninitialized val-
	      ues.

       memory onexit file
	      Causes a list of all allocated memory to be written to the specified file during the finalization of Tcl's memory subsystem.  Useful
	      for checking that memory is properly cleaned up during process exit.

       memory tag string
	      Each packet of memory allocated by ckalloc can have associated with it a string-valued tag.  In the lists of allocated memory gener-
	      ated by memory active and memory onexit, the tag for each packet is printed along with other information about the packet.  The mem-
	      ory tag command sets the tag value for subsequent calls to ckalloc to be string.

       memory trace [on|off]
	      Turns  memory  tracing on or off.  When memory tracing is on, every call to ckalloc causes a line of trace information to be written
	      to stderr, consisting of the word ckalloc, followed by the address returned, the amount of memory allocated, and the C filename  and
	      line number of the code performing the allocation.  For example:
		     ckalloc 40e478 98 tclProc.c 1406
	      Calls to ckfree are traced in the same manner.

       memory trace_on_at_malloc count
	      Enable memory tracing after count ckalloc's have been performed.	For example, if you enter memory trace_on_at_malloc 100, after the
	      100th call to ckalloc, memory trace information will begin being displayed for all allocations and frees.  Since there can be a  lot
	      of  memory  activity before a problem occurs, judicious use of this option can reduce the slowdown caused by tracing (and the amount
	      of trace information produced), if you can identify a number of allocations that occur before the problem sets in.  The current num-
	      ber of memory allocations that have occurred since Tcl started is printed on a guard zone failure.

       memory validate [on|off]
	      Turns  memory  validation  on  or  off.  When  memory validation is enabled, on every call to ckalloc or ckfree, the guard zones are
	      checked for every piece of memory currently in existence that was allocated by ckalloc.  This has a  large  performance  impact  and
	      should  only  be	used  when overwrite problems are strongly suspected.  The advantage of enabling memory validation is that a guard
	      zone overwrite can be detected on the first call to ckalloc or ckfree after the overwrite occurred, rather than  when  the  specific
	      memory with the overwritten guard zone(s) is freed, which may occur long after the overwrite occurred.

SEE ALSO

       ckalloc, ckfree, Tcl_ValidateAllMemory, Tcl_DumpActiveMemory, TCL_MEM_DEBUG

KEYWORDS

       memory, debug

Tcl									8.1								 memory(n)