1memory(n)                    Tcl Built-In Commands                   memory(n)
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NAME

8       memory - Control Tcl memory debugging capabilities.
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SYNOPSIS

11       memory option ?arg arg ...?
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DESCRIPTION

16       The  memory  command  gives  the  Tcl developer control of Tcl's memory
17       debugging capabilities.  The memory  command  has  several  suboptions,
18       which are described below.  It is only available when Tcl has been com‐
19       piled with memory debugging enabled (when TCL_MEM_DEBUG is  defined  at
20       compile time), and after Tcl_InitMemory has been called.
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22       memory active file
23              Write  a list of all currently allocated memory to the specified
24              file.
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26       memory break_on_malloc count
27              After the count allocations have been performed, ckalloc outputs
28              a  message to this effect and that it is now attempting to enter
29              the C debugger.  Tcl will then issue  a  SIGINT  signal  against
30              itself.   If  you  are running Tcl under a C debugger, it should
31              then enter the debugger command mode.
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33       memory info
34              Returns a report containing  the  total  allocations  and  frees
35              since Tcl began, the current packets allocated (the current num‐
36              ber of calls to ckalloc not  met  by  a  corresponding  call  to
37              ckfree),  the current bytes allocated, and the maximum number of
38              packets and bytes allocated.
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40        memory init [on|off]
41              Turn on or off the pre-initialization of  all  allocated  memory
42              with bogus bytes.  Useful for detecting the use of uninitialized
43              values.
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45       memory onexit file
46              Causes a list of all allocated memory to be written to the spec‐
47              ified  file  during  the finalization of Tcl's memory subsystem.
48              Useful for checking that memory is properly  cleaned  up  during
49              process exit.
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51       memory tag string
52              Each  packet  of memory allocated by ckalloc can have associated
53              with it a string-valued tag.  In the lists of  allocated  memory
54              generated  by  memory active and memory onexit, the tag for each
55              packet is printed along with other information about the packet.
56              The  memory  tag command sets the tag value for subsequent calls
57              to ckalloc to be string.
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59       memory trace [on|off]
60              Turns memory tracing on or off.   When  memory  tracing  is  on,
61              every  call  to ckalloc causes a line of trace information to be
62              written to stderr, consisting of the word ckalloc,  followed  by
63              the  address returned, the amount of memory allocated, and the C
64              filename and line number of the code performing the  allocation.
65              For example:
66                     ckalloc 40e478 98 tclProc.c 1406
67              Calls to ckfree are traced in the same manner.
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69       memory trace_on_at_malloc count
70              Enable memory tracing after count ckalloc's have been performed.
71              For example, if you enter memory trace_on_at_malloc  100,  after
72              the  100th  call to ckalloc, memory trace information will begin
73              being displayed for all allocations and frees.  Since there  can
74              be  a  lot of memory activity before a problem occurs, judicious
75              use of this option can reduce the  slowdown  caused  by  tracing
76              (and the amount of trace information produced), if you can iden‐
77              tify a number of allocations that occur before the problem  sets
78              in.  The current number of memory allocations that have occurred
79              since Tcl started is printed on a guard zone failure.
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81       memory validate [on|off]
82              Turns memory validation on or off.  When  memory  validation  is
83              enabled, on every call to ckalloc or ckfree, the guard zones are
84              checked for every piece of memory currently  in  existence  that
85              was  allocated  by ckalloc.  This has a large performance impact
86              and should only be used when  overwrite  problems  are  strongly
87              suspected.   The advantage of enabling memory validation is that
88              a guard zone overwrite can be detected  on  the  first  call  to
89              ckalloc or ckfree after the overwrite occurred, rather than when
90              the specific memory with the overwritten guard zone(s) is freed,
91              which may occur long after the overwrite occurred.
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SEE ALSO

95       ckalloc,     ckfree,    Tcl_ValidateAllMemory,    Tcl_DumpActiveMemory,
96       TCL_MEM_DEBUG
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KEYWORDS

100       memory, debug
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104Tcl                                   8.1                            memory(n)
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