.\" Copyright (c) 1991 The Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" the American National Standards Committee X3, on Information .\" Processing Systems. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" from: @(#)free.3 5.2 (Berkeley) 6/29/91 .\" $Id: free.3,v 1.1 1995/10/18 08:42:17 deraadt Exp $ .\" .Dd June 29, 1991 .Dt FREE 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm free .Nd free up memory allocated with malloc, calloc or realloc .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include .Ft void .Fn free "void *ptr" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn free function causes the space pointed to by .Fa ptr to be deallocated, that is, made available for further allocation. If .Fa ptr is a null pointer, no action occurs. Otherwise, if the argument does not match a pointer earlier returned by the .Xr calloc , .Xr malloc , or .Xr realloc function, or if the space has been deallocated by a call to .Fn free or .Xr realloc , general havoc may occur. .Sh RETURN VALUES The .Fn free function returns no value. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr calloc 3 , .Xr malloc 3 , .Xr realloc 3 .Sh STANDARDS The .Fn free function conforms to .St -ansiC .