Free c library – free C Library Function

Free c library: The stdlib C Library function free deallocate a memory block which was previously allocated by a call to malloc, calloc or realloc. It makes deallocated block available for allocations.

Function prototype of free

void free(void *ptr);

• ptr : This is a pointer to a memory block to deallocate, which was previously allocated with calloc, malloc or realloc. It does nothing, if ptr is null pointer.

Return value of free

NONE

C program using free function

Free function in c: The following program shows the use of free function to deallocate memory which was previously allocated using calloc.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main(){
    int *array, counter, n, sum=0;
     
    printf("Enter number of elements\n");
    scanf("%d", &n);
     
    /* Allocate memory to store n integers using calloc */
    array = (int*)calloc(n, sizeof(int));
    /* 
     * Take n integers as input from user and store 
     * them in array 
     */
    printf("Enter %d numbers\n", n);
    for(counter = 0; counter < n; counter++){
        scanf("%d", &array[counter]);
    }
    /* Find sum of n numbers */
    for(counter = 0; counter < n; counter++){
        sum = sum + array[counter];
    }
    printf("Sum of %d numbers : %d", n, sum);
     
    /* Deallocate allocated memory */
    free(array);
     
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter number of elements
6
Enter 6 numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6
Sum of 6 numbers : 21