= nng_alloc(3)
//
// Copyright 2018 Staysail Systems, Inc. <info@staysail.tech>
// Copyright 2018 Capitar IT Group BV <info@capitar.com>
//
// This document is supplied under the terms of the MIT License, a
// copy of which should be located in the distribution where this
// file was obtained (LICENSE.txt).  A copy of the license may also be
// found online at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT.
//

== NAME

nng_alloc - allocate memory

== SYNOPSIS

[source, c]
----
#include <nng/nng.h>

void *nng_alloc(size_t size);
----

== DESCRIPTION

The `nng_alloc()` function allocates a contiguous memory region of
at least _size_ bytes.
The memory will be 64-bit aligned.

The returned memory can be used to hold message buffers, in which
case it can be directly passed to xref:nng_send.3.adoc[`nng_send()`] using
the flag `NNG_FLAG_ALLOC`.  Alternatively, it can be freed when no
longer needed using xref:nng_free.3.adoc[`nng_free()`].

IMPORTANT: Do not use the system `free()` function to release this memory.
On some platforms this may work, but it is not guaranteed and may lead
to a crash or other undesirable and unpredictable behavior.

== RETURN VALUES

This function returns a pointer to the allocated memory on success,
and `NULL` otherwise.

== ERRORS

No errors are returned, but a `NULL` return value should be
treated the same as `NNG_ENOMEM`.

== SEE ALSO

[.text-left]
xref:nng_free.3.adoc[nng_free(3)],
xref:nng_send.3.adoc[nng_send(3)],
xref:nng_strerror.3.adoc[nng_strerror(3)],
xref:nng.7.adoc[nng(7)]