This sets the maximum amount of memory in bytes that a script
is allowed to allocate. This helps prevent poorly written
scripts for eating up all available memory on a server. In order to
use this directive you must have enabled it at compile time. So,
your configure line would have included:
--enable-memory-limit. Note that
you have to set it to -1 if you don't want any limit for your memory.
As of PHP 4.3.2, and when memory_limit is enabled, the PHP function
memory_get_usage() is made available.
When an integer is used, the
value is measured in bytes. You may also use shorthand notation as described
in this FAQ.