DosFreeSeg

This call deallocates a memory segment.

Syntax

DosFreeSeg (Selector)

Parameters

Selector (SEL) - input 

Selector of the segment to be freed.

Return Code

rc (USHORT) - return

Return code descriptions are:

• 0 NO_ERROR
• 5 ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED
• 212 ERROR_LOCKED

Remarks

DosFreeSeg frees selectors to segments returned by allocation calls to DosAllocSeg, DosAllocShrSeg, and DosAllocHuge. In addition, DosFreeSeg frees a selector returned by a call to DosCreateCSAlias. If a CS alias selector has been created for a data segment by a call to DosCreateCSAlias, the CS alias selector is still valid after the segment's data selector has been freed.

When allocated memory is shared, all selectors to the shared memory must be freed before the memory is deallocated. For example, if memory allocated by DosAllocSeg or DosAllocHuge has been given to another process with DosGiveSeg, the giver usually frees its selector by a call to DosFreeSeg. The recipient, in turn, frees the selector passed to it, after it has accessed the shared memory with DosGetSeg.

DosFreeSeg decrements the reference count for named shared segments allocated by DosAllocShrSeg. Access to the segment with DosGetShrSeg increments this count. When the count is 0, the memory is deallocated.

Family API Considerations

Some options operate differently in the DOS mode than in OS/2 mode. Therefore, the following restriction applies to DosFreeSeg when coding for the DOS mode:

If DosFreeSeg is issued on a CSAliased segment it deallocates the associated memory. This is inconsistent with the OS/2 mode, because DosFreeSeg must be performed on both the original and CSAliased selectors.

Bindings

C

#define INCL_DOSMEMMGR

USHORT  rc = DosFreeSeg(Selector);

SEL     Selector;      /* Selector */
USHORT  rc;            /* return code */

MASM

EXTRN  DosFreeSeg:FAR
INCL_DOSMEMMGR      EQU 1

PUSH   WORD    Selector      ;Selector
CALL   DosFreeSeg

Returns WORD

Example Code

This example allocates a segment of 30,250 bytes and then discards the segment.

#define INCL_DOSMEMMGR

#define NUMBER_OF_BYTES 30250
#define ALLOC_FLAG SEG_GETTABLE

SEL    Selector;
USHORT rc;

   rc = DosAllocSeg(NUMBER_OF_BYTES,     /* # of bytes requested */
                    &Selector,           /* Selector allocated */
                    ALLOC_FLAG);         /* Allocation flags */
   rc = DosFreeSeg(Selector);            /* Segment selector */