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

       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  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 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 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								MALLOC(3P)