.\" .\" Copyright (c) 2014, Joyent, Inc. .\" Copyright (c) 2009, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. .\" Copyright 1989 AT&T .\" Copyright 2021 Oxide Computer Company .\" .\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the .\" Common Development and Distribution License (the "License"). .\" You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. .\" .\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE .\" or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing. .\" See the License for the specific language governing permissions .\" and limitations under the License. .\" .\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each .\" file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE. .\" If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the .\" fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying .\" information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner] .\" .Dd January 25, 2022 .Dt MEMORY 3C .Os .Sh NAME .Nm memory , .Nm memccpy , .Nm memchr , .Nm memcmp , .Nm memcpy , .Nm memmem , .Nm memmove , .Nm memrchr , .Nm memset .Nd memory operations .Sh SYNOPSIS .In string.h .Ft "void *" .Fo memccpy .Fa "void *restrict s1" .Fa "const void *restrict s2" .Fa "int c" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memchr .Fa "void *s" .Fa "int c" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft int .Fo memcmp .Fa "const void *s1" .Fa "const void *s2" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memcpy .Fa "void *restrict s1" .Fa "const void *restrict s2" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memmem .Fa "const void *l" .Fa "size_t l_len" .Fa "const void *s" .Fa "size_t s_len" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memmove .Fa "void *s1" .Fa "const void *s2" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memrchr .Fa "void *s" .Fa "int c" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Ft "void *" .Fo memset .Fa "void *s" .Fa "int c" .Fa "size_t n" .Fc .Sh DESCRIPTION These functions operate as efficiently as possible on memory areas (arrays of bytes bounded by a count, not terminated by a null character). They do not check for the overflow of any receiving memory area. .Pp The .Fn memccpy function copies bytes from memory area .Fa s2 into .Fa s1 , stopping after the first occurrence of .Fa c .Po converted to an .Vt unsigned char .Pc has been copied, or after .Fa n bytes have been copied, whichever comes first. It returns a pointer to the byte after the copy of .Fa c in .Fa s1 , or a .Dv NULL pointer if .Fa c was not found in the first .Fa n bytes of .Fa s2 . .Pp The .Fn memchr function returns a pointer to the first occurrence of .Fa c .Po converted to an .Vt unsigned char .Pc in the first .Fa n bytes .Po each interpreted as an .Vt unsigned char .Pc of memory area .Fa s , or a .Dv NULL pointer if .Fa c does not occur. .Pp The .Fn memrchr function behaves similarly to the .Fn memchr function, except that the memory area is searched in reverse from the last byte. .Pp The .Fn memcmp function compares its arguments, looking at the first .Fa n bytes .Po each interpreted as an .Vt unsigned char .Pc , and returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than 0, according as .Fa s1 is less than, equal to, or greater than .Fa s2 when taken to be unsigned characters. .Pp The .Fn memcpy function copies .Fa n bytes from memory area .Fa s2 to .Fa s1 It returns .Fa s1 . If copying takes place between objects that overlap, the behavior is undefined. In such cases, use .Fn memmove instead. .Pp The .Fn memmem function searches for the .Fa s_len long byte pattern .Fa s in the memory region starting at .Fa l for .Fa l_len bytes. If a match is found, a pointer to the starting location in .Fa l is returned. If no match is found, .Fa l_len is zero, .Fa s_len is zero, or .Fa l_len is less than .Fa s_len then a .Dv NULL pointer is return. .Pp The .Fn memmove function copies .Fa n bytes from memory area .Fa s2 to memory area .Fa s1 . Copying between objects that overlap will take place correctly. It returns .Fa s1 . .Pp The .Fn memset function sets the first .Fa n bytes in memory area .Fa s to the value of .Fa c .Po converted to an .Vt unsigned char .Pc . It returns .Fa s . .Sh USAGE Using .Fn memcpy might be faster than using .Fn memmove if the application knows that the objects being copied do not overlap. .Sh INTERFACE STABILITY .Sy Committed .Sh MT-LEVEL .Sy MT-Safe .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr string 3C , .Xr attributes 7 , .Xr standards 7 .Sh NOTES Overlap between objects being copied can arise even when their .Pq virtual address ranges appear to be disjoint; for example, as a result of memory-mapping overlapping portions of the same underlying file, or of attaching the same shared memory segment more than once.