free
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Deallocates or frees a memory block.
Syntax
void free(
void *memblock
);
Parameters
memblock
Previously allocated memory block to be freed.
Remarks
The free function deallocates a memory block (memblock) that was previously allocated by a call to calloc, malloc, or realloc. The number of freed bytes is equivalent to the number of bytes requested when the block was allocated (or reallocated, in the case of realloc). If memblock is NULL, the pointer is ignored and free immediately returns. Attempting to free an invalid pointer (a pointer to a memory block that was not allocated by calloc, malloc, or realloc) may affect subsequent allocation requests and cause errors.
If an error occurs in freeing the memory, errno is set with information from the operating system on the nature of the failure. For more information, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.
After a memory block has been freed, _heapmin minimizes the amount of free memory on the heap by coalescing the unused regions and releasing them back to the operating system. Freed memory that is not released to the operating system is restored to the free pool and is available for allocation again.
When the application is linked with a debug version of the C run-time libraries, free resolves to _free_dbg. For more information about how the heap is managed during the debugging process, see The CRT Debug Heap.
free is marked __declspec(noalias), meaning that the function is guaranteed not to modify global variables. For more information, see noalias.
To free memory allocated with _malloca, use _freea.
Requirements
| Function | Required header |
|---|---|
free |
<stdlib.h> and <malloc.h> |
For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.
Example
See the example for malloc.
.NET Framework Equivalent
Not applicable. To call the standard C function, use PInvoke. For more information, see Platform Invoke Examples.
See Also
Memory Allocation
_alloca
calloc
malloc
realloc
_free_dbg
_heapmin
_freea