MAT_VARFREE(3)

✨ MAT_VARFREE ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the MAT_VARFREE(3) page from the Library Functions Manual and she is lowkey a cleanup queen 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

Mat_VarFree — frees a MAT variable structure. that's it. that's the job. she takes the whole variable and sends it to the void 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <matio.h>

void
Mat_VarFree(matvar_t *matvar);

like yes, that's the whole vibe. one include, one function, one pointer. iconic 💖

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the way that Mat_VarFree() works is: it frees the memory that a MAT variable structure is using. she's the friend who actually returns the borrowed hoodie — except the hoodie is memory and the returning is freeing 🧚

and here's the part you need to actually remember, no cap: if the variable was not created with the MAT_F_DONT_COPY_DATA flag, the variable data is also free'd. so it's not just the structure getting yeeted, it's the data living inside it too. if you made it with MAT_F_DONT_COPY_DATA, the data is not yours to free, so she leaves it alone. respect the flag, bestie 🙈

⚠️ fr fr, mind that flag. MAT_F_DONT_COPY_DATA means the data isn't owned by the variable, so it does not get free'd here. everything else does. don't be out here double-freeing like it's a personality trait 💀

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• Mat_VarCreate(3)
• Mat_VarCreateStruct(3)

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the cute sign-off 💜

this page comes to you courtesy of Debian, dated March 18, 2012 — so she's been freeing variables since before some of us could even read. periodt. ✨👑