MEMCACHED_CLONE(3)

💖 MEMCACHED_CLONE 💖

okay bestie, sit down, we're talking libmemcached and specifically the whole clone / create / free situation. this is memcached_clone(3) from libmemcached-awesome, and yes it's giving ✨foundational library lore✨. if you're writing C that talks to memcached, this is your girl. let's go 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <libmemcached/memcached.h>

Compile and link with -lmemcached (no cap, that's the whole vibe).

typedef struct memcached_st memcached_st

✨ memcached_create

memcached_st *memcached_create(memcached_st *ptr)

• Parameters
  • ptr — pointer to a user-allocated memcached_st struct, or a null pointer
• Returns — pointer to the initialized memcached_st struct

✨ memcached_free

void memcached_free(memcached_st *ptr)

• Parameters
  • ptr — pointer to an initialized memcached_st struct that you want destroyed and possibly freed

✨ memcached_clone

memcached_st *memcached_clone(memcached_st *destination, memcached_st *source)

• Parameters
  • destination — pointer to a user-allocated memcached_st struct, or a null pointer
  • source — pointer to an initialized memcached_st struct to copy from
• Returns — pointer to the newly initialized destination, copied from source

✨ memcached_servers_reset

void memcached_servers_reset(memcached_st *ptr)

• Parameters
  • ptr — pointer to an initialized memcached_st struct

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so memcached_create() is the one that makes you a memcached_st structure — that's the lil object every other libmemcached function uses to actually talk to the server. you've got two options, and honestly both are valid: hand it a statically declared memcached_st, or hand it a NULL. and if you pass that NULL? it just allocates a whole structure for you. main character energy, honestly 💅

not me about to say this: when you write a new application, use memcached() over memcached_create(). that's literally what the docs say. iykyk.

now memcached_clone() is like memcached_create()'s cooler sibling — same energy, but it also copies the defaults and the list of servers from the source memcached_st pointer. and here's the cute part: if you pass a null as the argument for the source to clone, it's literally the same as calling memcached_create(). if the destination argument is NULL, a memcached_st will be allocated for you. easy ✨

memcached_servers_reset() lets you zero out the list of servers that the memcached_st has. bye servers, it's not you it's me 🎀

and to clean up the memory tied to a memcached_st structure, you pass it to memcached_free() when you're done with it. important: memcached_free() is the only way to make sure all the memory is deallocated when you finish using the structure. don't skip it, bestie, that's a leak 💀

real talk: you may want to avoid using memcached_create() or memcached_clone() with a stack based allocation. the most common issues related to ABI safety involve heap allocated structures. so like, heap it. please. 🙈

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🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

• memcached_create() returns a pointer to the memcached_st that was created (or initialized). on an allocation failure, it returns NULL.
• memcached_clone() returns a pointer to the memcached_st that was created (or initialized). on an allocation failure, it returns NULL.

so yeah, check for NULL before you go using the thing. no cap.

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• memcached(1)
• libmemcached(3)

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🍓 this was version 1.1, dated Jul 24, 2025, courtesy of libmemcached-awesome. go forth and memcached_free() your structs, mwah 💜✨