suse man page for free

FREE(3P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							  FREE(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
       free - free allocated memory

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       void free(void *ptr);

DESCRIPTION
       The free() function shall cause the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated; that is, made available for further allocation. If ptr is  a
       null  pointer,  no  action  shall  occur.   Otherwise, if the argument does not match a pointer earlier returned by the calloc(), malloc(),
       posix_memalign(),  realloc(), or   strdup()  function, or if the space has been deallocated by a call to free() or realloc(), the  behavior
       is undefined.

       Any use of a pointer that refers to freed space results in undefined behavior.

RETURN VALUE
       The free() function shall not return a value.

ERRORS
       No errors are defined.

       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
       calloc(), 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								  FREE(3P)