mallinfo(3) Library Functions Manual mallinfo(3)
NAME
mallinfo, mallinfo2 - obtain memory allocation information
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <malloc.h>
struct mallinfo mallinfo(void);
struct mallinfo2 mallinfo2(void);
DESCRIPTION
These functions return a copy of a structure containing information
about memory allocations performed by malloc(3) and related functions.
The structure returned by each function contains the same fields. How-
ever, the older function, mallinfo(), is deprecated since the type used
for the fields is too small (see BUGS).
Note that not all allocations are visible to these functions; see BUGS
and consider using malloc_info(3) instead.
The mallinfo2 structure returned by mallinfo2() is defined as follows:
struct mallinfo2 {
size_t arena; /* Non-mmapped space allocated (bytes) */
size_t ordblks; /* Number of free chunks */
size_t smblks; /* Number of free fastbin blocks */
size_t hblks; /* Number of mmapped regions */
size_t hblkhd; /* Space allocated in mmapped regions
(bytes) */
size_t usmblks; /* See below */
size_t fsmblks; /* Space in freed fastbin blocks (bytes) */
size_t uordblks; /* Total allocated space (bytes) */
size_t fordblks; /* Total free space (bytes) */
size_t keepcost; /* Top-most, releasable space (bytes) */
};
The mallinfo structure returned by the deprecated mallinfo() function
is exactly the same, except that the fields are typed as int.
The structure fields contain the following information:
arena The total amount of memory allocated by means other than
mmap(2) (i.e., memory allocated on the heap). This figure
includes both in-use blocks and blocks on the free list.
ordblks The number of ordinary (i.e., non-fastbin) free blocks.
smblks The number of fastbin free blocks (see mallopt(3)).
hblks The number of blocks currently allocated using mmap(2). (See
the discussion of M_MMAP_THRESHOLD in mallopt(3).)
hblkhd The number of bytes in blocks currently allocated using
mmap(2).
usmblks This field is unused, and is always 0. Historically, it was
the "highwater mark" for allocated space—that is, the maximum
amount of space that was ever allocated (in bytes); this
field was maintained only in nonthreading environments.
fsmblks The total number of bytes in fastbin free blocks.
uordblks The total number of bytes used by in-use allocations.
fordblks The total number of bytes in free blocks.
keepcost The total amount of releasable free space at the top of the
heap. This is the maximum number of bytes that could ideally
(i.e., ignoring page alignment restrictions, and so on) be
released by malloc_trim(3).
VERSIONS
The mallinfo2() function was added in glibc 2.33.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see at-
tributes(7).
┌────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│mallinfo(), │ Thread safety │ MT-Unsafe init const:mallopt │
│mallinfo2() │ │ │
└────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┘
mallinfo()/ mallinfo2() would access some global internal objects. If
modify them with non-atomically, may get inconsistent results. The
identifier mallopt in const:mallopt mean that mallopt() would modify
the global internal objects with atomics, that make sure mallinfo()/
mallinfo2() is safe enough, others modify with non-atomically maybe
not.
STANDARDS
These functions are not specified by POSIX or the C standards. A
mallinfo() function exists on many System V derivatives, and was speci-
fied in the SVID.
BUGS
Information is returned for only the main memory allocation area. Al-
locations in other arenas are excluded. See malloc_stats(3) and mal-
loc_info(3) for alternatives that include information about other are-
nas.
The fields of the mallinfo structure that is returned by the older
mallinfo() function are typed as int. However, because some internal
bookkeeping values may be of type long, the reported values may wrap
around zero and thus be inaccurate.
EXAMPLES
The program below employs mallinfo2() to retrieve memory allocation
statistics before and after allocating and freeing some blocks of memo-
ry. The statistics are displayed on standard output.
The first two command-line arguments specify the number and size of
blocks to be allocated with malloc(3).
The remaining three arguments specify which of the allocated blocks
should be freed with free(3). These three arguments are optional, and
specify (in order): the step size to be used in the loop that frees
blocks (the default is 1, meaning free all blocks in the range); the
ordinal position of the first block to be freed (default 0, meaning the
first allocated block); and a number one greater than the ordinal posi-
tion of the last block to be freed (default is one greater than the
maximum block number). If these three arguments are omitted, then the
defaults cause all allocated blocks to be freed.
In the following example run of the program, 1000 allocations of 100
bytes are performed, and then every second allocated block is freed:
$ ./a.out 1000 100 2
============== Before allocating blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 0
# of free chunks (ordblks): 1
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 0
Total free space (fordblks): 0
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 0
============== After allocating blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 135168
# of free chunks (ordblks): 1
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 104000
Total free space (fordblks): 31168
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 31168
============== After freeing blocks ==============
Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): 135168
# of free chunks (ordblks): 501
# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): 0
# of mapped regions (hblks): 0
Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): 0
Max. total allocated space (usmblks): 0
Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): 0
Total allocated space (uordblks): 52000
Total free space (fordblks): 83168
Topmost releasable block (keepcost): 31168
Program source
#include <malloc.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static void
display_mallinfo2(void)
{
struct mallinfo2 mi;
mi = mallinfo2();
printf("Total non-mmapped bytes (arena): %zu\n", mi.arena);
printf("# of free chunks (ordblks): %zu\n", mi.ordblks);
printf("# of free fastbin blocks (smblks): %zu\n", mi.smblks);
printf("# of mapped regions (hblks): %zu\n", mi.hblks);
printf("Bytes in mapped regions (hblkhd): %zu\n", mi.hblkhd);
printf("Max. total allocated space (usmblks): %zu\n", mi.usmblks);
printf("Free bytes held in fastbins (fsmblks): %zu\n", mi.fsmblks);
printf("Total allocated space (uordblks): %zu\n", mi.uordblks);
printf("Total free space (fordblks): %zu\n", mi.fordblks);
printf("Topmost releasable block (keepcost): %zu\n", mi.keepcost);
}
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
#define MAX_ALLOCS 2000000
char *alloc[MAX_ALLOCS];
size_t blockSize, numBlocks, freeBegin, freeEnd, freeStep;
if (argc < 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "--help") == 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s num-blocks block-size [free-step "
"[start-free [end-free]]]\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
numBlocks = atoi(argv[1]);
blockSize = atoi(argv[2]);
freeStep = (argc > 3) ? atoi(argv[3]) : 1;
freeBegin = (argc > 4) ? atoi(argv[4]) : 0;
freeEnd = (argc > 5) ? atoi(argv[5]) : numBlocks;
printf("============== Before allocating blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo2();
for (size_t j = 0; j < numBlocks; j++) {
if (numBlocks >= MAX_ALLOCS) {
fprintf(stderr, "Too many allocations\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
alloc[j] = malloc(blockSize);
if (alloc[j] == NULL) {
perror("malloc");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
printf("\n============== After allocating blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo2();
for (size_t j = freeBegin; j < freeEnd; j += freeStep)
free(alloc[j]);
printf("\n============== After freeing blocks ==============\n");
display_mallinfo2();
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
mmap(2), malloc(3), malloc_info(3), malloc_stats(3), malloc_trim(3),
mallopt(3)
Linux man-pages 6.03 2023-02-05 mallinfo(3)
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