malloc_usable_size(3)

NAME
malloc_usable_size - obtain size of block of memory allocated from heap

LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
#include <malloc.h>

size_t malloc_usable_size(void *ptr);

DESCRIPTION
The malloc_usable_size() function returns the number of usable bytes in the block pointed to by ptr, a pointer to a block of memory allocated by malloc(3) or a related function.

RETURN VALUE
malloc_usable_size() returns the number of usable bytes in the block of allocated memory pointed to by ptr. If ptr is NULL, 0 is returned.

ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
Interface | Attribute | Value
 | Thread safety | MT-Safe

STANDARDS
This function is a GNU extension.

NOTES
The value returned by malloc_usable_size() may be greater than the requested size of the allocation because of alignment and minimum size constraints. Although the excess bytes can be overwritten by the application without ill effects, this is not good programming practice: the number of excess bytes in an allocation depends on the underlying implementation.

The main use of this function is for debugging and introspection.

SEE ALSO
malloc(3)