operator delete, operator delete[]

 

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operator newoperator new[]

operator deleteoperator delete[]

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Defined in header <new>
replaceable deallocation functions
void operator delete  ( void* ptr );	(1)
void operator delete[]( void* ptr );	(2)
void operator delete  ( void* ptr, const std::nothrow_t& tag );	(3)
void operator delete[]( void* ptr, const std::nothrow_t& tag );	(4)
void operator delete  ( void* ptr, std::size_t sz );	(5)	(since C++14)
void operator delete[]( void* ptr, std::size_t sz );	(6)	(since C++14)
placement deallocation functions
void operator delete  ( void* ptr, void* place );	(7)
void operator delete[]( void* ptr, void* place );	(8)
void operator delete  ( void* ptr, user-defined-args... );	(9)
void operator delete[]( void* ptr, user-defined-args... );	(10)
class-specific deallocation functions
void T::operator delete  ( void* ptr );	(11)
void T::operator delete[]( void* ptr );	(12)
void T::operator delete  ( void* ptr, std::size_t sz );	(13)
void T::operator delete[]( void* ptr, std::size_t sz );	(14)
void T::operator delete  ( void* ptr, user-defined-args... );	(15)
void T::operator delete[]( void* ptr, user-defined-args... );	(16)

Deallocates storage previously allocated by a matching operator new. These deallocation functions are called by delete-expressions and by new-expressions to deallocate memory after destructing (or failing to construct) objects with dynamic storage duration. They may also be called using regular function call syntax.

1) Called by delete-expressions to deallocate storage previously allocated for a single object. The behavior of the standard library implementation of this function is undefined unless ptr is a null pointer or is a pointer previously obtained from the standard library implementation of operator new(size_t) or operator new(size_t, std::nothrow_t).

2) Called by delete[]-expressions to deallocate storage previously allocated for an array of objects. The behavior of the standard library implementation of this function is undefined unless ptr is a null pointer or is a pointer previously obtained from the standard library implementation of operator new[](size_t) or operator new[](size_t, std::nothrow_t).

3) Called by the non-throwing single-object new-expressions if a constructor of the object throws an exception. The standard library implementation behaves the same as (1)

4) Called by the non-throwing array new[]-expressions if a constructor of any object throws an exception (after executing the destructors of all objects in the array that were successfully constructed). The standard library implementation behaves the same as (2)

5-6) Called instead of (1-2) if a user-defined replacement is provided except that it's implementation-defined whether (1-2) or (5-6) is called when deleting objects of incomplete type and arrays of non-class and trivially-destructible class types (since C++17). The standard library implementations are identical to (1-2).

7) Called by the standard single-object placement new expression if the object's constructor throws an exception. The standard library implementation of this function does nothing.

8) Called by the standard array form of the placement new expression if any of the objects' constructors throws an exception (after executing the destructors of all objects that were constructed successfully). The standard library implementation of this function does nothing.

9) If defined, called by the custom single-object placement new expression with the matching signature if the object's constructor throws an exception. If a class-specific version (14) is defined, it is called in preference to (9). If neither (14) nor (9) is provided by the user, no deallocation function is called.

10) If defined, called by the custom array form of placement new[] expression with the matching signature if any of the objects' constructors throws an exception (after executing the destructors for all objects that were constructed successfully). If a class-specific version (15) is defined, it is called in preference to (10). If neither (15) nor (10) is provided by the user, no deallocation function is called

11) If defined, called by the usual single-object delete-expressions if deallocating an object of type T.

12) If defined, called by the usual array delete[]-expressions if deallocating an array of objects of type T.

13) If defined, and if (11) is not defined, called by the usual single-object delete-expressions if deallocating an object of type T.

14) If defined, and if (12) is not defined, called by the usual array delete[]-expressions if deallocating an array of objects of type T.

15) If defined, called by the custom single-object placement new expression with the matching signature if the object's constructor throws an exception. If this function is not provided, and a matching (9) is not provided either, no deallocation function is called.

16) If defined, called by the custom array form of placement new[] expression with the matching signature if any of the objects' constructors throws an exception (after executing the destructors for all objects that were constructed successfully). If this function is not provided, and a matching (10) is not provided either, no deallocation function is called.

In all cases, if ptr is a null pointer, the standard library deallocation functions do nothing. If the pointer passed to the standard library deallocation function was not obtained from the corresponding standard library allocation function, the behavior is undefined.

After the standard library deallocation function returns, all pointers referring to any part of the deallocated storage become invalid.

Any use of a pointer that became invalid in this manner, even copying the pointer value into another variable, is undefined behavior.	(until C++14)
Indirection through a pointer that became invalid in this manner and passing it to a deallocation function (double-delete) is undefined behavior. Any other use is implementation-defined.	(since C++14)

Parameters

ptr	-	pointer to a memory area to deallocate or a null pointer
sz	-	the size that was passed to the matching allocation function
place	-	pointer used as the placement parameter in the matching placement new
tag	-	overload disambiguation tag matching the tag used by non-throwing operator new

Return value

(none)

Exceptions

(none)	(until C++11)
noexcept specification:   noexcept	(since C++11)

Global replacements

The versions (1,2,5,6) are implicitly declared in each translation unit even if the <new> header is not included. These functions are replaceable: a user-provided non-member function with the same signature defined anywhere in the program, in any source file, replaces the corresponding implicit version for the entire program. Its declaration does not need to be visible.

The behavior is undefined if more than one replacement is provided in the program or if a replacement is defined with the inline specifier, the program is ill-formed if a replacement is defined in namespace other than global namespace, or if it is defined as a static non-member function at global scope.

The single-object version (1) is called by the standard library implementations of all other versions (2-6), so replacing that one function is sufficient to handle all deallocations.

(since C++11)

Run this code

#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
// replacement of a minimal set of functions:
void* operator new(std::size_t sz) {
    std::printf("global op new called, size = %zu\n",sz);
    return std::malloc(sz);
}
void operator delete(void* ptr) noexcept
{
    std::puts("global op delete called");
    std::free(ptr);
}
int main() {
     int* p1 = new int;
     delete p1;
 
     int* p2 = new int[10]; // guaranteed to call the replacement in C++11
     delete[] p2;
}

Possible output:

global op new called, size = 4
global op delete called
global op new called, size = 40
global op delete called

Overloads of operator delete and operator delete[] with additional user-defined parameters ("placement forms", (9,10)) may be declared at global scope as usual, and are called by the matching placement forms of new-expressions if a constructor of the object that is being allocated throws an exception.

The standard library placement forms of operator delete (7,8) cannot be replaced and can only be customized if the placement new-expression did not use the ::new syntax, by providing a class-specific placement delete (15,16) with matching signature: void T::operator delete(void*, void*) or void T::operator delete[](void*, void*).

All deallocation functions are noexcept(true) unless specified otherwise in the declaration.

(since C++11)

Class-specific overloads

Deallocation functions (11-14) may be defined as static member functions of a class. These deallocation functions, if provided, are called by delete-expressions when deleting objects (versions (11) and (13)) and arrays (versions (12) and (15)) of this class, unless the delete expression used the form ::delete which bypasses class-scope lookup. The keyword static is optional for these function declarations: whether the keyword is used or not, the deallocation function is always a static member function.

The delete expression looks for appropriate deallocation function's name first in the class scope (array form looks in the scope of the array element class), and after that in the global scope. Note, that as per name lookup rules, any deallocation functions declared in class scope hides all global deallocation functions.

If the static type of the object that is being deleted differs from its dynamic type (such as when deleting a polymorphic object through a pointer to base), and if the destructor in the static type is virtual, the single object form of delete begins lookup of the deallocation function's name starting from the point of definition of the final overrider of its virtual destructor. Regardless of which deallocation function would be executed at run time, the statically visible version of operator delete must be accessible in order to compile. In other cases, when deleting an array through a pointer to base, or when deleting through pointer to base with non-virtual destructor, the behavior is undefined.

If the single-argument overload (11,12) is not provided, but the two-argument overload taking std::size_t as the second parameter (13,14) is provided, the two-argument form is called for normal deallocation, and the C++ runtime passes the size of the object to be deallocated as the second argument. If both forms are defined, the single-argument version is called.

Run this code

#include <iostream>
// sized class-specific deallocation functions
struct X {
    static void operator delete(void* ptr, std::size_t sz)
    {
        std::cout << "custom delete for size " << sz << '\n';
        ::operator delete(ptr);
    }
    static void operator delete[](void* ptr, std::size_t sz)
    {
        std::cout << "custom delete for size " << sz << '\n';
        ::operator delete(ptr);
    }
};
int main() {
     X* p1 = new X;
     delete p1;
     X* p2 = new X[10];
     delete[] p2;
}

Possible output:

custom delete for size 1
custom delete for size 18

Overloads of operator delete and operator delete[] with additional user-defined parameters ("placement forms", (15,16)) may also be defined as class members. When the placement new expression with the matching signature looks for the corresponding placement delete function to call, it begins at class scope before examining the global scope, and if the class-specific placement delete is provided, it is called.

Run this code

#include <stdexcept>
#include <iostream>
struct X {
    X() { throw std::runtime_error(""); }
    // custom placement new
    static void* operator new(std::size_t sz, bool b) {
        std::cout << "custom placement new called, b = " << b << '\n';
        return ::operator new(sz);
    }
    // custom placement delete
    static void operator delete(void* ptr, bool b)
    {
        std::cout << "custom placement delete called, b = " << b << '\n';
        ::operator delete(ptr);
    }
};
int main() {
   try {
     X* p1 = new (true) X;
   } catch(const std::exception&) { }
}

Output:

custom placement new called, b = 1
custom placement delete called, b = 1

If class-level operator delete is a template function, it must have the return type of void, the first argument void*, and it must have two or more parameters. In other words, only placement forms can be templates. The specialization of the template operator delete is chosen with template argument deduction.

Notes

The call to the class-specific T::operator delete on a polymorphic class is the only case where a static member function is called through dynamic dispatch.

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 2458	C++14	overloads taking (void*,size_t,const nothrow_t&) were specified, but could never be called	spurious overloads removed

See also

operator newoperator new[]	allocation functions (function)
return_temporary_buffer	releases uninitialized storage (function)
free	deallocates memory (function)