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# autorelease

Decrements the receiver’s retain count at the end of the current autorelease pool block.

```
- (instancetype) autorelease;
```

## Return Value

`self`.

## Discussion

For more information about autorelease pool blocks, see [Advanced Memory Management Programming Guide](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/MemoryMgmt/Articles/MemoryMgmt.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000011i).

### Special Considerations

Instead of using manual reference counting, you should adopt ARC—see [Transitioning to ARC Release Notes](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/releasenotes/ObjectiveC/RN-TransitioningToARC/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40011226).

---

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