al_open_memfile(3alleg5)

✨ al_open_memfile ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the al_open_memfile(3alleg5) page of the Allegro reference manual 💖 this one's a lil cutie from the Allegro 5 API and it's literally about pretending a chunk of memory is a whole entire file. slay.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

al_open_memfile — Allegro 5 API ✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <allegro5/allegro_memfile.h>

ALLEGRO_FILE *al_open_memfile(void *mem, int64_t size, const char *mode)

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so basically: this hands you back a file handle that points at a block of memory. every single read and write operation acts directly on that memory, no copy, no middleman, no cap. which means — and this is the important part, don't skip it — you must NOT free that memory while the file is still open. like, it is actively living in there. do not evict it. 💀

the mode can be any combination of "r" (readable) and "w" (writable). that's the whole menu, that's it.

regardless of the mode, the file always opens at position 0. always. every time. no exceptions, no cute little offset, nothing.

the file size is fixed — it cannot be expanded. so don't come in here expecting to grow it, bestie, it's giving "what you see is what you get." 🙈

the file is always read from / written to in binary mode, which means no newline translation is performed. none. zero. the bytes are the bytes. periodt. 💅

when you're done, close it with al_fclose(3alleg5). and after the file is closed, YOU are responsible for freeing the memory (if it needs freeing, that is — iykyk). the file handle isn't gonna do it for you, she's off the clock. 👑

⚠️ real talk: memory must not be freed while the file remains open, and once it's closed, the cleanup is on you. that's the whole vibe check right there.

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🌈 sign-off 🌈

and that's the tea, bestie 🫶 this lil masterpiece lives in the Allegro reference manual, filed under the al_open_memfile(3alleg5) manual page. go forth and memfile responsibly ✨🎀💜