1.\" Copyright (c) 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 5.\" the American National Standards Committee X3, on Information 6.\" Processing Systems. 7.\" 8.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 9.\" 10.\" @(#)free.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 06/04/93 11.\" 12.Dd 13.Dt FREE 3 14.Os 15.Sh NAME 16.Nm free 17.Nd free up memory allocated with malloc, calloc or realloc 18.Sh SYNOPSIS 19.Fd #include <stdlib.h> 20.Ft void 21.Fn free "void *ptr" 22.Sh DESCRIPTION 23The 24.Fn free 25function causes the space pointed to by 26.Fa ptr 27to be deallocated, that is, made available 28for further allocation. 29If 30.Fa ptr 31is a null pointer, no action occurs. 32Otherwise, if the argument does not match a pointer earlier 33returned by the 34.Xr calloc , 35.Xr malloc , 36or 37.Xr realloc 38function, or if the space has been deallocated by a call to 39.Fn free 40or 41.Xr realloc , 42general havoc may occur. 43.Sh RETURN VALUES 44The 45.Fn free 46function returns no value. 47.Sh SEE ALSO 48.Xr calloc 3 , 49.Xr malloc 3 , 50.Xr realloc 3 51.Sh STANDARDS 52The 53.Fn free 54function conforms to 55.St -ansiC . 56