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Tcl_Alloc(3)                               Tcl Library Procedures                               Tcl_Alloc(3)



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NAME
       Tcl_Alloc,  Tcl_Free,  Tcl_Realloc, Tcl_AttemptAlloc, Tcl_AttemptRealloc, ckalloc, ckfree, ckrealloc,
       attemptckalloc, attemptckrealloc - allocate or free heap memory

SYNOPSIS
       #include <tcl.h>

       char *
       Tcl_Alloc(size)

       void
       Tcl_Free(ptr)

       char *
       Tcl_Realloc(ptr, size)

       char *
       Tcl_AttemptAlloc(size)

       char *
       Tcl_AttemptRealloc(ptr, size)

       char *
       ckalloc(size)

       void
       ckfree(ptr)

       char *
       ckrealloc(ptr, size)

       char *
       attemptckalloc(size)

       char *
       attemptckrealloc(ptr, size)

ARGUMENTS
       unsigned int size (in)   Size in bytes of the memory block to allocate.

       char *ptr (in)           Pointer to memory block to free or realloc.
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DESCRIPTION
       These procedures provide a platform and compiler independent interface for memory  allocation.   Pro-grams Programs
       grams that need to transfer ownership of memory blocks between Tcl and other modules should use these
       routines rather than the native malloc() and free() routines provided by the C run-time library.

       Tcl_Alloc returns a pointer to a block of at least size bytes suitably aligned for any use.

       Tcl_Free makes the space referred to by ptr available for further allocation.

       Tcl_Realloc changes the size of the block pointed to by ptr to size bytes and returns  a  pointer  to
       the  new  block.   The  contents  will  be  unchanged up to the lesser of the new and old sizes.  The
       returned location may be different from ptr.  If ptr is NULL, this is equivalent to calling Tcl_Alloc
       with just the size argument.

       Tcl_AttemptAlloc  and  Tcl_AttemptRealloc  are  identical  in  function to Tcl_Alloc and Tcl_Realloc,
       except that Tcl_AttemptAlloc and Tcl_AttemptRealloc will not cause the Tcl interpreter  to  panic  if
       the  memory  allocation fails.  If the allocation fails, these functions will return NULL.  Note that
       on some platforms, but not all, attempting to allocate a zero-sized block of memory will  also  cause
       these functions to return NULL.

       The  procedures  ckalloc,  ckfree, ckrealloc, attemptckalloc, and attemptckrealloc are implemented as
       macros.  Normally, they are synonyms for the corresponding procedures documented on this page.   When
       Tcl  and  all  modules calling Tcl are compiled with TCL_MEM_DEBUG defined, however, these macros are
       redefined to be special debugging versions of these procedures.  To support  Tcl's  memory  debugging
       within a module, use the macros rather than direct calls to Tcl_Alloc, etc.


KEYWORDS
       alloc, allocation, free, malloc, memory, realloc, TCL_MEM_DEBUG



Tcl                                                  7.5                                        Tcl_Alloc(3)