What is Memory Leak? How can we avoid?
Memory leak occurs when programmers create a memory in heap and forget to delete it.
Memory leaks are particularly serious issues for programs like daemons and servers which by definition never terminate.
/* Function with memory leak */#include <stdlib.h> void f() { int *ptr = (int *) malloc(sizeof(int)); /* Do some work */ return; /* Return without freeing ptr*/} |
To avoid memory leaks, memory allocated on heap should always be freed when no longer needed.
/* Function without memory leak */#include <stdlib.h>; void f() { int *ptr = (int *) malloc(sizeof(int)); /* Do some work */ free(ptr); return; } |
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