1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 13.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 14.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 15.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.\" @(#)alloca.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93 33.\" $FreeBSD$ 34.\" 35.Dd June 4, 1993 36.Dt ALLOCA 3 37.Os BSD 4 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm alloca 40.Nd memory allocator 41.Sh SYNOPSIS 42.Fd #include <stdlib.h> 43.Ft void * 44.Fn alloca "size_t size" 45.Sh DESCRIPTION 46The 47.Fn alloca 48function 49allocates 50.Fa size 51bytes of space in the stack frame of the caller. 52This temporary space is automatically freed on 53return. 54.Sh RETURN VALUES 55The 56.Fn alloca 57function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated space. 58If the allocation failed, a 59.Dv NULL 60pointer is returned. 61.Sh SEE ALSO 62.Xr brk 2 , 63.Xr calloc 3 , 64.Xr getpagesize 3 , 65.Xr malloc 3 , 66.Xr realloc 3 67.Sh BUGS 68The 69.Fn alloca 70function 71is machine dependent; its use is discouraged. 72.\" .Sh HISTORY 73.\" The 74.\" .Fn alloca 75.\" function appeared in 76.\" .Bx ?? . 77.\" The function appeared in 32v, pwb and pwb.2 and in 3bsd 4bsd 78.\" The first man page (or link to a man page that I can find at the 79.\" moment is 4.3... 80