what does (int *) before malloc mean?

Question

what does the (int *) do in the following code?

int *ptr = (int *) malloc(10 * sizeof (int));

i'm new to C and i've seen the above code with and without the (int *) so im wondering what it does.

Answer 1

That means "cast a void* pointer into a int* pointer" - malloc() returns void* and you ask the compiler to treat that void* as if it was int* . This construct around malloc() is only needed in C++ code, and is totally unneeded and even evil in C because it can cause rather subtle yet devastating errors.