FREEBSD::MALLOC_UP(3)

🎀 NAME 🎀

okay so bestie, meet freebsd::malloc_up — a std::unique_ptr specialization for objects allocated via malloc. It’s giving “smart pointer, but malloc-coded” energy, and the manual page is FREEBSD::MALLOC_UP(3) because iykyk 💅

✨ LIBRARY ✨

library libutil++ 🫶

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <libutil++.hh>

using malloc_up = std::unique_ptr<T, free_deleter<T>>;

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So here’s the tea: this class is a specialization of std::unique_ptr which invokes free(3) instead of delete() when an object is disposed. No cap.

While explicit calls to malloc(3) should be avoided in C++ code, this class can be useful to manage an object allocated by an existing API which uses malloc(3) internally such as scandir(3). Iconic little rescue tool, honestly.

tiny important note: the type of the underlying object must be used as the first template argument similar to std::unique_ptr. don’t forget that part, bestie 😭

🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

This example uses strdup(3) for simplicity, but new C++ code should generally not use strdup(3):

freebsd::malloc_up<char> my_string(strdup("foo"));
// `mystring' is implicitly freed on destruction

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• free(3)
• malloc(3)
• scandir(3)
• strdup(3)

that’s the whole page, bestie 💖 source/version: Debian · date: July 31, 2025 · title: FREEBSD::MALLOC_UP(3) — mwah, periodt 🧚‍♀️💜