FcPatternDestroy(3)

💅 FcPatternDestroy(3) — the fontconfig manual, but make it cute

okay so this is FcPatternDestroy(3) from the fontconfig section 3 girlypops — i.e. library calls, not commands. she's short, she's iconic, she's the cleanup queen 👑

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✨ NAME ✨

FcPatternDestroy — destroy a pattern 💀🌸

like, literally, she ends it. respectfully.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <fontconfig/fontconfig.h>

void FcPatternDestroy (FcPattern *p);

no cap, that's the whole vibe check — one include, one function, one pointer 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay bestie, listen, this is important: FcPatternDestroy decrements the pattern reference count 👏 not "frees it immediately", not "yeets it into the void" — it decrements the reference count. the way that distinction matters 😭

so it's like this:

• there's a count of how many references exist to the pattern p
• this function takes that count down by one
• if all references are gone, then it destroys the pattern 🫶
• and in the process of destroying the pattern, it also destroys all related values — every last one, no leftovers, we love a thorough queen ✨

so if other people still have references? she just politely steps back 💅 the pattern lives on, main character energy, until the last ref dips.

the return type is void, because she doesn't do receipts — no return value, no status, nothing to check. she just does the thing. periodt. 🔥

⚠️ tiny caution bestie: this is a reference count situation, not a "call it and forget it" situation. calling it when you don't hold a reference is gonna have a bad time, iykyk 🙈

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🌈 that's it, that's the page 🌈

genuinely obsessed with how short this one is — she said "no bloat, only function." slay. 🦋💜

this little love letter is from Fontconfig 2.17.0, dated 27 June 2025 — mwah, take care of your reference counts, ily 🎀⭐