---
name: "vm_page_dontneed"
section: "9"
platform: "linux"
package: "freebsd-manpages"
version: "6.0-5"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/vm_page_dontneed"
---

# vm\_page\_dontneed(9)

indicate that a page is not needed anymore

## NAME

**vm\_page\_dontneed** – indicate that a page is not needed anymore

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<sys/param.h\>**

**#include \<vm/vm.h\>**

**#include \<vm/vm\_page.h\>**

*void*\

**vm\_page\_dontneed**(*vm\_page\_t m*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **vm\_page\_dontneed**() function advises the VM system that the given page is no longer required. If the page is already in the inactive queue or in the cache queue, this function does nothing; otherwise the page is deactivated.

Note that **vm\_page\_dontneed**() does not necessarily deactivate a page, but instead implements an algorithm that attempts to prevent small objects from having their pages reused too quickly, and large objects from flushing smaller ones from the queues as their pages are released.

## SEE ALSO

[vm\_page\_deactivate(9)](/vm_page_deactivate/9.md)

## AUTHORS

This manual page was written by Chad David ⟨davidc@acns.ab.ca⟩.