CALLOC(3P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							CALLOC(3P)

PROLOG

       This  manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
       ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       calloc - a memory allocator

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       void *calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize);

DESCRIPTION

       The calloc() function shall allocate unused space for an array of nelem elements each of whose size in bytes is elsize. The space shall	be
       initialized to all bits 0.

       The  order  and contiguity of storage allocated by successive calls to calloc() is unspecified. The pointer returned if the allocation suc-
       ceeds 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 or	an
       array  of  such	objects  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 shall point 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 imple-
       mentation-defined: the value returned shall be either a null pointer or a unique pointer.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion with both nelem and elsize non-zero, calloc() shall return a pointer to the allocated space. If either nelem	or
       elsize  is  0, then either a null pointer or a unique pointer value 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 calloc() function shall fail if:

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory is available.

       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

       free(), 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 Technol-
       ogy -- 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 .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								CALLOC(3P)