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CFREE(3) Linux Programmer's Manual CFREE(3)
cfree - free allocated memory
#include <stdlib.h>
/* In SunOS 4 */
int cfree(void *ptr);
/* In glibc or FreeBSD libcompat */
void cfree(void *ptr);
/* In SCO OpenServer */
void cfree(char *ptr, unsigned num, unsigned size);
/* In Solaris watchmalloc.so.1 */
void cfree(void *ptr, size_t nelem, size_t elsize);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
cfree(): _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE
This function should never be used. Use free(3) instead.
In glibc, the function cfree() is a synonym for free(3), "added for
compatibility with SunOS".
Other systems have other functions with this name. The declaration is
sometimes in <stdlib.h> and sometimes in <malloc.h>.
Some SCO and Solaris versions have malloc libraries with a 3-argument cfree(),
apparently as an analog to calloc(3).
If you need it while porting something, add
#define cfree(p, n, s) free((p))
to your file.
A frequently asked question is "Can I use free(3) to free memory allocated
with calloc(3), or do I need cfree()?" Answer: use free(3).
An SCO manual writes: "The cfree routine is provided for compliance to the
iBCSe2 standard and simply calls free. The num and size arguments to cfree
are not used."
The SunOS version of cfree() (which is a synonym for free(3)) returns 1 on
success and 0 on failure. In case of error, errno is set to EINVAL: the value
of ptr was not a pointer to a block previously allocated by one of the
routines in the malloc(3) family.
The 3-argument version of cfree() as used by SCO conforms to the iBCSe2
standard: Intel386 Binary Compatibility Specification, Edition 2.
malloc(3)
This page is part of release 3.32 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found
at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
2007-07-26 CFREE(3)
HTML rendering created 2010-12-03 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface