CALLOC
Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (3P)
Updated: 2017
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This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding 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 functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the
ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the
ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.1-2017 defers to the ISO C standard.
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 succeeds 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 implementation-defined: either a
null pointer shall be returned, or the behavior shall be as if the
size were some non-zero value, except that the behavior is undefined
if the returned pointer is used to access an object.
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 shall be returned
and
errno
may be set to an implementation-defined value,
or
- *
-
A pointer to the allocated space shall be returned. The application
shall ensure that the pointer is not used to access an object.
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 POSIX.1-2017,
<stdlib.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition,
Copyright (C) 2018 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 .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear
in this page are most likely
to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to
man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .