/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches (since Linux 2.6.16)
Writing to this file causes the kernel to drop clean caches, dentries and inodes from memory, causing that memory to become free.
To free pagecache, use echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
to free dentries and inodes, use echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
to free pagecache, dentries and inodes, use echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches.