[#BloombergLP-bslma-MallocFreeAllocator-allocate-06]
= xref:BloombergLP.adoc[BloombergLP]::xref:BloombergLP/bslma.adoc[bslma]::xref:BloombergLP/bslma/MallocFreeAllocator.adoc[MallocFreeAllocator]::allocate
:relfileprefix: ../../../
:mrdocs:

Return a newly allocated block of memory of the specified `size` bytes&period;

== Synopsis

Declared in `&lt;bslma&lowbar;mallocfreeallocator&period;h&gt;`

[source,cpp,subs="verbatim,replacements,macros,-callouts"]
----
virtual
void*
allocate(xref:BloombergLP/bslma/Allocator/size_type.adoc[size&lowbar;type] size) override;
----

== Description

Return a newly allocated block of memory of (at least) the specified positive `size` (in bytes)&period; If `size` is 0, a null pointer is returned with no other effect&period; If this allocator cannot return the requested number of bytes, then it will return a null pointer&period; The behavior is undefined unless `0 &lt;&equals; size`&period; Note that the alignment of the address returned is the maximum alignment for any type defined on this platform&period; Also note that `std&colon;&colon;malloc` is _not_ called when `size` is 0 (in order to avoid having to acquire a lock, and potential contention in multi&hyphen;treaded programs)&period;

== Return Value

pointer to the allocated memory, or null if `size` is 0 or allocation fails

== Parameters

[cols="1,4"]
|===
| Name| Description
| *size*
| number of bytes to allocate
|===


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