NAME¶

explicit_bzero — write zeroes to a byte string

LIBRARY¶

library “libbsd”

SYNOPSIS¶

#include <bsd/string.h>

void
explicit_bzero(void *buf, size_t len);

DESCRIPTION¶

The explicit_bzero() function writes len zero bytes to the string buf. If len is zero, explicit_bzero() does nothing.

The explicit_bzero() variant behaves the same as the bzero() function, but will not be removed by a compiler's dead store optimization pass, making it useful for clearing sensitive memory such as a password.

SEE ALSO¶

bzero(3), memset(3), swab(3)

HISTORY¶

The explicit_bzero() function first appeared in OpenBSD 5.5.