__heapstats()

Defined in stdlib.h, this function displays statistics on the state of the storage allocation heap. The default implementation in the compiler gives information on how many free blocks exist, and estimates their size ranges.

Example 1 shows an example of the output from __heapstats().

32272 bytes in 2 free blocks (avge size 16136)
1 blocks 2^12+1 to 2^13
1 blocks 2^13+1 to 2^14

Line 1 of the output displays the total number of bytes, the number of free blocks, and the average size. The following lines give an estimate of the size of each block in bytes, expressed as a range. __heapstats() does not give information on the number of used blocks.

The function outputs its results by calling the output function dprint(), that must work like fprintf(). The first parameter passed to dprint() is the supplied pointer param. You can pass fprintf() itself, provided you cast it to the right function pointer type. This type is defined as a typedef for convenience. It is called __heapprt. For example:

__heapstats((__heapprt)fprintf, stderr);

If you are using the default one-region memory model, heap memory is allocated only as it is required. This means that the amount of free heap changes as you allocate and deallocate memory. For example, the sequence:

  int *ip;
  __heapstats((__heapprt)fprintf,stderr);   // print initial free heap size
  ip = malloc(200000);
  free(ip);
  __heapstats((__heapprt)fprintf,stderr);    // print heap size after freeing

gives output such as:

4076 bytes in 1 free blocks (avge size 4076)
1 blocks 2^10+1 to 2^11
2008180 bytes in 1 free blocks (avge size 2008180)
1 blocks 2^19+1 to 2^20

This function is not part of the C library standard, but is supported by the ARM C library as an extension.

void __heapstats(int (*dprint)(void *param, char const *format,...), void *param);