sbrk() -- General Function (libc)

Increase a program's data space
#include <unistd.h>
char *sbrk(increment) unsigned int increment;

sbrk() increases a program's data space by increment bytes.  malloc() calls
sbrk() should you  attempt to allocate more space than  is available in the
program's data space.

If all  goes well, sbrk()  returns the old  break value.  Otherwise,  if an
error occurs, sbrk() returns -1 and sets errno to an appropriate value.

See Also

brk(),
libc,
malloc()

Notes

sbrk() will not increase the size  of the program data area if the physical
memory requested exceeds the physical memory allocated by COHERENT.  sbrk()
does not  keep track of  how space is  used; therefore, memory  seized with
sbrk() cannot be freed.  Caveat utilitor.

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness