Difference Between malloc and calloc

In this post, we will understand the difference between malloc and calloc.

Malloc

• The method ‘malloc’ is used to assign a block of memory when it is requested.

• It doesn’t clear the memory.

• It only initializes the allocated memory when explicitly requested.

• It allocates memory of a specific ‘size’.

• This size is passed as parameter to it.

• This size is allocated from a heap.

• It performs its job quickly.

Example

void *malloc(size_t size);

Calloc

• It assigns the requested memory to multiple blocks.

• This memory allocated is initiated to zero.

• This initialization to 0 is done by ‘calloc’ method.

• It allocates memory to the required operation of a specific ‘size’, i.e num * size.

• The ‘num’ refers to number of blocks of memory.

• It is slow in comparison to ‘malloc’ method.

Example

void *calloc(size_t num, size_t size);