MALLOC(3)                   BSD Programmer's Manual                  MALLOC(3)

NAME
     malloc, - general memory allocation function

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     void *
     malloc(sizet size)

DESCRIPTION
     The malloc() function allocates uninitialized space for an object whose
     size is specified by size. The malloc() function maintains multiple lists
     of free blocks according to size, allocating space from the appropriate
     list.

     The allocated space is suitably aligned (after possible pointer coercion)
     for storage of any type of object. If the space is of pagesize or larger,
     the memory returned will be page-aligned.

RETURN VALUES
     The malloc() function returns a pointer to the allocated space if suc-
     cessful; otherwise a null pointer is returned.

SEE ALSO
     brk(2),  pagesize(2),  free(3),  calloc(3),  alloca(3),  realloc(3),
     memory(3)

STANDARDS
     The malloc() function conforms to ANSI C3.159-1989 (``ANSI C'').

BUGS
     The current implementation of malloc does not always fail gracefully when
     system memory limits are approached.  It may fail to allocate memory when
     larger free blocks could be broken up, or when limits are exceeded be-
     cause the size is rounded up.  It is optimized for sizes that are powers
     of two.

4th Berkeley Distribution       March 26, 1993                               1