--- name: "ber_free" section: "3" platform: "linux" package: "libldap" version: "2.7.2-2" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/lber-types" --- # ber\_free(3) OpenLDAP LBER types and allocation functions Part of [lber-types(3)](/lber-types/3.md). ## NAME ber\_int\_t, ber\_uint\_t, ber\_len\_t, ber\_slen\_t, ber\_tag\_t, struct berval, BerValue, BerVarray, BerElement, ber\_bvfree, ber\_bvecfree, ber\_bvecadd, ber\_bvarray\_free, ber\_bvarray\_add, ber\_bvdup, ber\_dupbv, ber\_bvstr, ber\_bvstrdup, ber\_str2bv, ber\_alloc\_t, ber\_init, ber\_init2, ber\_free - OpenLDAP LBER types and allocation functions ## LIBRARY OpenLDAP LBER (liblber, -llber) ## SYNOPSIS **#include \** ``` typedef impl_tag_t ber_tag_t; typedef impl_int_t ber_int_t; typedef impl_uint_t ber_uint_t; typedef impl_len_t ber_len_t; typedef impl_slen_t ber_slen_t; typedef struct berval { ber_len_t bv_len; char *bv_val; } BerValue, *BerVarray; typedef struct berelement BerElement; ``` **void ber\_bvfree(struct berval \****bv***);** **void ber\_bvecfree(struct berval \*\****bvec***);** **void ber\_bvecadd(struct berval \*\*\****bvec***, struct berval \****bv***);** **void ber\_bvarray\_free(struct berval \****bvarray***);** **void ber\_bvarray\_add(BerVarray \****bvarray***, BerValue \****bv***);** **struct berval \*ber\_bvdup(const struct berval \****bv***);** **struct berval \*ber\_dupbv(const struct berval \****dst***, struct berval \****src***);** **struct berval \*ber\_bvstr(const char \****str***);** **struct berval \*ber\_bvstrdup(const char \****str***);** **struct berval \*ber\_str2bv(const char \****str***, ber\_len\_t** *len***, int** *dup***, struct berval \****bv***);** **BerElement \*ber\_alloc\_t(int** *options***);** **BerElement \*ber\_init(struct berval \****bv***);** **void ber\_init2(BerElement \****ber***, struct berval \****bv***, int** *options***);** **void ber\_free(BerElement \****ber***, int** *freebuf***);** ## DESCRIPTION The following are the basic types and structures defined for use with the Lightweight BER library. **ber\_int\_t** is a signed integer of at least 32 bits. It is commonly equivalent to **int**. **ber\_uint\_t** is the unsigned variant of **ber\_int\_t**. **ber\_len\_t** is an unsigned integer of at least 32 bits used to represent a length. It is commonly equivalent to a **size\_t**. **ber\_slen\_t** is the signed variant to **ber\_len\_t**. **ber\_tag\_t** is an unsigned integer of at least 32 bits used to represent a BER tag. It is commonly equivalent to a **unsigned long**. The actual definitions of the integral impl\_TYPE\_t types are platform specific. **BerValue**, commonly used as **struct berval**, is used to hold an arbitrary sequence of octets. **bv\_val** points to **bv\_len** octets. **bv\_val** is not necessarily terminated by a NULL (zero) octet. **ber\_bvfree**() frees a BerValue, pointed to by *bv*, returned from this API. If *bv* is NULL, the routine does nothing. **ber\_bvecfree**() frees an array of BerValues (and the array), pointed to by *bvec*, returned from this API. If *bvec* is NULL, the routine does nothing. **ber\_bvecadd**() appends the *bv* pointer to the *bvec* array. Space for the array is allocated as needed. The end of the array is marked by a NULL pointer. **ber\_bvarray\_free**() frees an array of BerValues (and the array), pointed to by *bvarray*, returned from this API. If *bvarray* is NULL, the routine does nothing. **ber\_bvarray\_add**() appends the contents of the BerValue pointed to by *bv* to the *bvarray* array. Space for the new element is allocated as needed. The end of the array is marked by a BerValue with a NULL bv\_val field. **ber\_bvdup**() returns a copy of a BerValue. The routine returns NULL upon error (e.g. out of memory). The caller should use **ber\_bvfree**() to deallocate the resulting BerValue. **ber\_dupbv**() copies a BerValue from *src* to *dst*. If *dst* is NULL a new BerValue will be allocated to hold the copy. The routine returns NULL upon error, otherwise it returns a pointer to the copy. If *dst* is NULL the caller should use **ber\_bvfree**() to deallocate the resulting BerValue, otherwise **ber\_memfree**() should be used to deallocate the *dst-\>bv\_val*. (The **ber\_bvdup**() function is internally implemented as ber\_dupbv(NULL, bv). **ber\_bvdup**() is provided only for compatibility with an expired draft of the LDAP C API; **ber\_dupbv**() is the preferred interface.) **ber\_bvstr**() returns a BerValue containing the string pointed to by *str*. **ber\_bvstrdup**() returns a BerValue containing a copy of the string pointed to by *str*. **ber\_str2bv**() returns a BerValue containing the string pointed to by *str*, whose length may be optionally specified in *len*. If *dup* is non-zero, the BerValue will contain a copy of *str*. If *len* is zero, the number of bytes to copy will be determined by [**strlen**(3)](/strlen/3.md), otherwise *len* bytes will be copied. If *bv* is non-NULL, the result will be stored in the given BerValue, otherwise a new BerValue will be allocated to store the result. NOTE: Both **ber\_bvstr**() and **ber\_bvstrdup**() are implemented as macros using **ber\_str2bv**() in this version of the library. **BerElement** is an opaque structure used to maintain state information used in encoding and decoding. **ber\_alloc\_t**() is used to create an empty BerElement structure. If **LBER\_USE\_DER** is specified for the *options* parameter then data lengths for data written to the BerElement will be encoded in the minimal number of octets required, otherwise they will always be written as four byte values. **ber\_init**() creates a BerElement structure that is initialized with a copy of the data in its *bv* parameter. **ber\_init2**() initializes an existing BerElement *ber* using the data in the *bv* parameter. The data is referenced directly, not copied. The *options* parameter is the same as for **ber\_alloc\_t**(). **ber\_free**() frees a BerElement pointed to by *ber*. If *ber* is NULL, the routine does nothing. If *freebuf* is zero, the internal buffer is not freed. ## SEE ALSO [**lber-encode**(3)](/lber-encode/3.md), [**lber-decode**(3)](/lber-decode/3.md), [**lber-memory**(3)](/lber-memory/3.md) ## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS **OpenLDAP Software** is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project \. **OpenLDAP Software** is derived from the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.