Subj : Re: malloc and free
To   : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp
From : maeder
Date : Mon Jul 12 2004 09:31 pm

"Alistair" <alistair@nospam.com> writes:

> char * memused = (char *)malloc(80);  //allocate 80 bytes
> memset(memused, '\0', 80);
> strcpy(memused, "TEST");
>
> How do i find out how many bytes memused has if I dont remember the value
> 80?
> strlen returns 4, which is correct, but I want the amount of memory
> allocated in the first place.

In addition to Ed Mulroy's post:

In almost all cases, it is better to use a container object instead of a
dynamically allocated array. In this case, that would be

std::string memused(' ',80);
memused = "TEST";

[Depending on the compiler and library version you are using, you have to
or must not write the std:: prefix".]

This would not only allow you to query the allocated size using the
capacity() member function, but also automagically deallocate that memory
once memused isn't used any longer.

.