1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)alloca.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 06/04/93 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt ALLOCA 3 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm alloca 13.Nd memory allocator 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Fd #include <stdlib.h> 16.Ft void * 17.Fn alloca "size_t size" 18.Sh DESCRIPTION 19The 20.Fn alloca 21function 22allocates 23.Fa size 24bytes of space in the stack frame of the caller. 25This temporary space is automatically freed on 26return. 27.Sh RETURN VALUES 28The 29.Fn alloca 30function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated space. 31If the allocation failed, a 32.Dv NULL 33pointer is returned. 34.Sh SEE ALSO 35.Xr brk 2 , 36.Xr pagesize 2 37.Xr calloc 3 , 38.Xr malloc 3 , 39.Xr realloc 3 , 40.Sh BUGS 41The 42.Fn alloca 43function 44is machine dependent; its use is discouraged. 45.\" .Sh HISTORY 46.\" The 47.\" .Fn alloca 48.\" function appeared in 49.\" .Bx ?? . 50.\" The function appeared in 32v, pwb and pwb.2 and in 3bsd 4bsd 51.\" The first man page (or link to a man page that I can find at the 52.\" moment is 4.3... 53