NAME
alloca —
memory allocator
LIBRARY
library “libc”
SYNOPSIS
#include
<stdlib.h>
void *
alloca(size_t
size);
DESCRIPTION
Thealloca()
function allocates size bytes of space in the stack
frame of the caller. This temporary space is automatically freed on return.
RETURN VALUES
The alloca() function returns a pointer to
the beginning of the allocated space.
SEE ALSO
HISTORY
The alloca() function appeared in
Version 7 AT&T UNIX/32V.
BUGS
The alloca() function is machine and
compiler dependent; its use is discouraged.
The alloca() function is slightly unsafe
because it cannot ensure that the pointer returned points to a valid and
usable block of memory. The allocation made may exceed the bounds of the
stack, or even go further into other objects in memory, and
alloca() cannot determine such an error. Avoid
alloca() with large unbounded allocations.