ALLOCA(3) |
FreeBSD Library Functions Manual |
ALLOCA(3) |
NAME
alloca —
memory allocator
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include < stdlib.h>
void *
alloca( size_t size);
DESCRIPTION
The
alloca() function allocates
size bytes of space in the stack frame of the caller. This temporary space is automatically freed on return.
RETURN VALUES
The
alloca() function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated space.
HISTORY
The
alloca() function appeared in Version 32V AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
The
alloca() function is machine and compiler dependent; its use is discouraged.
The alloca() function is slightly unsafe because it cannot ensure that the pointer returned points to a valid and usable block of memory. The allocation made may exceed the bounds of the stack, or even go further into other objects in memory, and alloca() cannot determine such an error. Avoid alloca() with large unbounded allocations.