cfree - free allocated memory

NAME LIBRARY SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION 1-arg cfree 3-arg cfree RETURN VALUE ATTRIBUTES VERSIONS STANDARDS HISTORY SEE ALSO

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

/* In SunOS 4 */
int cfree(void *ptr);

/* In glibc or FreeBSD libcompat */
void cfree(void *ptr);

/* In SCO OpenServer */
void cfree(unsigned int n, unsigned int size;
char ptr[size * n], unsigned int n, unsigned int size);

/* In Solaris watchmalloc.so.1 */
void cfree(size_t n, size_t size;
void ptr[size * n], size_t n, size_t size);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

cfree():
Since glibc 2.19:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE
glibc 2.19 and earlier:
_BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

This function should never be used. Use free(3) instead. Starting with glibc 2.26, it has been removed from glibc.

1-arg cfree

In glibc, the function cfree() is a synonym for free(3), "added for compatibility with SunOS".

Other systems have other functions with this name. The declaration is sometimes in <stdlib.h> and sometimes in <malloc.h>.

3-arg cfree

Some SCO and Solaris versions have malloc libraries with a 3-argument cfree(), apparently as an analog to calloc(3).

If you need it while porting something, add

#define cfree(p, n, s) free((p))

to your file.

A frequently asked question is "Can I use free(3) to free memory allocated with calloc(3), or do I need cfree()?". Answer: use free(3).

An SCO manual writes: "The cfree routine is provided for compliance to the iBCSe2 standard and simply calls free. The n and size arguments to cfree are not used."

The SunOS version of cfree() (which is a synonym for free(3)) returns 1 on success and 0 on failure. In case of error, errno is set to EINVAL: the value of ptr was not a pointer to a block previously allocated by one of the routines in the malloc(3) family.