The Single UNIX ® Specification, Version 2
Copyright © 1997 The Open Group

 NAME

realloc - memory reallocator

 SYNOPSIS



#include <stdlib.h>

void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);

 DESCRIPTION

The realloc() function changes the size of the memory object pointed to by ptr to the size specified by size. The contents of the object will remain unchanged up to the lesser of the new and old sizes. If the new size of the memory object would require movement of the object, the space for the previous instantiation of the object is freed. If the new size is larger, the contents of the newly allocated portion of the object are unspecified. If size is 0 and ptr is not a null pointer, the object pointed to is freed. If the space cannot be allocated, the object remains unchanged.

If ptr is a null pointer, realloc() behaves like malloc() for the specified size.

If ptr does not match a pointer returned earlier by calloc(), malloc() or realloc() or if the space has previously been deallocated by a call to free() or realloc(), the behaviour is undefined.

The order and contiguity of storage allocated by successive calls to realloc() is unspecified. The pointer returned if the allocation succeeds is suitably aligned so that it may be assigned to a pointer to any type of object and then used to access such an object in the space allocated (until the space is explicitly freed or reallocated). Each such allocation will yield a pointer to an object disjoint from any other object. The pointer returned points to the start (lowest byte address) of the allocated space. If the space cannot be allocated, a null pointer is returned.

 RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion with a size not equal to 0, realloc() returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) allocated space. If size is 0, either a null pointer or a unique pointer that can be successfully passed to free() is returned. If there is not enough available memory, realloc() returns a null pointer  and sets errno to [ENOMEM].

 ERRORS

The realloc() function will fail if:
[ENOMEM]
Insufficient memory is available.

 EXAMPLES

None.

 APPLICATION USAGE

None.

 FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

 SEE ALSO

calloc(), free(), malloc(), <stdlib.h>.

DERIVATION

Derived from Issue 1 of the SVID.

UNIX ® is a registered Trademark of The Open Group.
Copyright © 1997 The Open Group
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