Aligned malloc in C++

void *aligned_malloc(size_t required_bytes, size_t alignment) {
  void *p1;
  void **p2;
  int offset=alignment-1+sizeof（void*);
  if((p1=(void*)malloc(required_bytes+offset))==NULL)
  return NULL;
  p2=(void**)(((size_t)(p1)+offset)&~(alignment-1));  //line 5
  p2[-1]=p1; //line 6
  return p2;
}

p1 is the actual allocation. p2 is the pointer being returned, which references memory past the point of allocation and leaves enough space for both allignment AND storing the actual allocated pointer in the first place. when aligned_free() is called, p1 will be retrieved to do the "real" free().

Regarding the bit math, that gets a little more cumbersome, but it works.

p2=(void**)(((size_t)(p1)+offset)&~(alignment-1));  //line 5

Remember, p1 is the actual allocation reference. For kicks, lets assume the following, with 32bit pointers:

alignment = 64 bytes