Depending on how malloc() is implemented, fragmentation can be serious in a program that runs forever with as many frees as allocs. Separate allocations for each item can also be costly in time. One malloc() strategy is to divide the arena into regions, each of which caters for blocks of a single size, so fragmentation doesn't occur. In essence that's how the system tables work, except that these tables have hard limits. Now, if the tables could be reallocated as needed ... Another problem with per-item allocations is performance monitoring and debugging. It's hard to see what's going on in a well mixed dynamic storage heap. Doug