NAME

       explicit_bzero — write zeroes to a byte string

LIBRARY

       Utility functions from BSD systems (libbsd, -lbsd)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <string.h>
       (See libbsd(7) for include usage.)

       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, glibc 2.25.

Debian                                          January 22, 2014                            explicit_bzero(3bsd)