[#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 (at least) the specified positive `size` (in bytes). If `size` is 0, a null pointer is returned with no other effect. If this allocator cannot return the requested number of bytes, then it will return a null pointer. The behavior is undefined unless `0 <= size`. Note that the alignment of the address returned is the maximum alignment for any type defined on this platform. Also note that `std::malloc` is _not_ called when `size` is 0 (in order to avoid having to acquire a lock, and potential contention in multi‐treaded programs).

== Synopsis

Declared in `<bslma_mallocfreeallocator.h>`

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


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