1ALLOCA(3)                  Linux Programmer's Manual                 ALLOCA(3)
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NAME

6       alloca - allocate memory that is automatically freed
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SYNOPSIS

9       #include <alloca.h>
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11       void *alloca(size_t size);
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DESCRIPTION

14       The  alloca() function allocates size bytes of space in the stack frame
15       of the caller.  This temporary space is automatically  freed  when  the
16       function that called alloca() returns to its caller.
17

RETURN VALUE

19       The  alloca()  function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allo‐
20       cated space.  If the allocation causes stack overflow, program behavior
21       is undefined.
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ATTRIBUTES

24       For   an   explanation   of   the  terms  used  in  this  section,  see
25       attributes(7).
26
27       ┌──────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
28Interface Attribute     Value   
29       ├──────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
30alloca()  │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
31       └──────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

CONFORMING TO

33       This function is not in POSIX.1.
34
35       There is evidence that the alloca()  function  appeared  in  32V,  PWB,
36       PWB.2,  3BSD,  and  4BSD.  There is a man page for it in 4.3BSD.  Linux
37       uses the GNU version.
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NOTES

40       The alloca() function is machine- and compiler-dependent.  For  certain
41       applications,  its  use  can  improve efficiency compared to the use of
42       malloc(3) plus free(3).  In certain cases, it can also simplify  memory
43       deallocation  in  applications  that  use  longjmp(3) or siglongjmp(3).
44       Otherwise, its use is discouraged.
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46       Because the space allocated by alloca() is allocated within  the  stack
47       frame,  that  space  is  automatically  freed if the function return is
48       jumped over by a call to longjmp(3) or siglongjmp(3).
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50       The space allocated by alloca() is not automatically deallocated if the
51       pointer that refers to it simply goes out of scope.
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53       Do not attempt to free(3) space allocated by alloca()!
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55   Notes on the GNU version
56       Normally,  gcc(1) translates calls to alloca() with inlined code.  This
57       is not done when either the -ansi, -std=c89, -std=c99, or the  -std=c11
58       option  is given and the header <alloca.h> is not included.  Otherwise,
59       (without an -ansi or -std=c* option) the glibc  version  of  <stdlib.h>
60       includes <alloca.h> and that contains the lines:
61
62           #ifdef  __GNUC__
63           #define alloca(size)   __builtin_alloca (size)
64           #endif
65
66       with messy consequences if one has a private version of this function.
67
68       The  fact  that the code is inlined means that it is impossible to take
69       the address of this function, or to change its behavior by linking with
70       a different library.
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72       The  inlined  code often consists of a single instruction adjusting the
73       stack pointer, and does not check for stack overflow.  Thus,  there  is
74       no NULL error return.
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BUGS

77       There  is  no  error  indication if the stack frame cannot be extended.
78       (However, after a failed allocation, the program is likely to receive a
79       SIGSEGV signal if it attempts to access the unallocated space.)
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81       On many systems alloca() cannot be used inside the list of arguments of
82       a function call, because the stack space  reserved  by  alloca()  would
83       appear  on  the stack in the middle of the space for the function argu‐
84       ments.
85

SEE ALSO

87       brk(2), longjmp(3), malloc(3)
88

COLOPHON

90       This page is part of release 5.07 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
91       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
92       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
93       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
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97GNU                               2019-03-06                         ALLOCA(3)
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