freeaddrinfo function (ws2tcpip.h)

The freeaddrinfo function frees address information that the getaddrinfo function dynamically allocates in addrinfo structures.

VOID WSAAPI freeaddrinfo(
  [in] PADDRINFOA pAddrInfo
);

[in] pAddrInfo

A pointer to the addrinfo structure or linked list of addrinfo structures to be freed. All dynamic storage pointed to within the addrinfo structure or structures is also freed.

This function does not return a value.

The freeaddrinfo function frees addrinfo structures dynamically allocated by the ANSI getaddrinfo function. The freeaddrinfo function frees the initial addrinfo structure pointed to in the ai parameter, including any buffers to which structure members point, then continues freeing any addrinfo structures linked by the ai_next member of the addrinfo structure. The freeaddrinfo function continues freeing linked structures until a NULL ai_next member is encountered.

Macros in the Winsock header file define a mixed-case function name of FreeAddrInfo and an ADDRINFOT structure. This FreeAddrInfo function should be called with the ai parameter of a pointer of type ADDRINFOT. When UNICODE or _UNICODE is not defined, FreeAddrInfo is defined to freeaddrinfo, the ANSI version of the function, and ADDRINFOT is defined to the addrinfo structure. When UNICODE or _UNICODE is defined, FreeAddrInfo is defined to FreeAddrInfoW, the Unicode version of the function, and ADDRINFOT is defined to the addrinfoW structure.

The FreeAddrInfoW function is the Unicode version of freeaddrinfo. The FreeAddrInfoW function was added to the Ws2_32.dll in Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2). The FreeAddrInfoW function cannot be used on versions of Windows earlier than Windows XP with SP2.

Windows Phone 8: The freeaddrinfo function is supported for Windows Phone Store apps on Windows Phone 8 and later.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: The freeaddrinfo and FreeAddrInfoW functions are supported for Windows Store apps on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later.

FreeAddrInfoW

GetAddrInfoW

Winsock Functions

addrinfo

addrinfoW

getaddrinfo