aligned_alloc

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< c‎ | memory
Defined in header <stdlib.h>
void *aligned_alloc( size_t alignment, size_t size );
(since C11)

Allocate size bytes of uninitialized storage whose alignment is specified by alignment. The size parameter must be an integral multiple of alignment.

aligned_alloc is thread-safe: it behaves as though only accessing the memory locations visible through its argument, and not any static storage.

A previous call to free or realloc that deallocates a region of memory synchronizes-with a call to aligned_alloc that allocates the same or a part of the same region of memory. This synchronization occurs after any access to the memory by the deallocating function and before any access to the memory by aligned_alloc

Contents

[edit] Parameters

alignment - specifies the alignment. Must be a valid alignment supported by the implementation.
size - number of bytes to allocate. An integral multiple of alignment

[edit] Return value

Either a null pointer or a pointer to the allocated memory. The pointer must be deallocated with free().

[edit] Notes

Passing a size which is not an integral multiple of alignment or a alignment which is not valid or not supported by the implementation is undefined behavior.

E.g., the glibc requires alignment to be a power of two and a multiple of sizeof(void *).

[edit] References

  • C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):
  • 7.22.3.1 Memory management functions

[edit] See also

C++ documentation for aligned storage