diff --git a/src/rvprof_memory.c b/src/rvprof_memory.c
index 8a58553..c1d71d3 100644
--- a/src/rvprof_memory.c
+++ b/src/rvprof_memory.c
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ void rvprof_free(void* ptr, size_t size){
 
 // DYNAMIC ARRAY MANAGEMENT
 
-// used for cleanup callbacks
-typedef void* (*cleanup_item_fn_t)(void* item);
 
 // generic ensure_capacity implementation, independent of actual array type
 // maybe if switching to C++ in the future, we may move from pre-processor magic to templates
@@ -47,10 +45,45 @@ int name##_array_ensure_capacity(name##_array_t* arr, int needed){ \
         type* new_data = rvprof_realloc(arr->data, old_size, new_size); \
         if(!new_data){ \
             return RVPROF_ERROR_MEMORY; \
-        }\
+        } \
         \
         arr->data = new_data; \
         arr->capacity = new_capacity; \
-    }\
+    } \
     return RVPROF_SUCCESS;\
-}\
+} 
+
+// do the same for cleanup, taking a fuction alias for the slightly different cleanup logic for each type
+#define IMPLEMENT_ARRAY_CLEANUP(type, name, cleanup_fn) \
+void name##_array_cleanup(name##_array_t* arr){ \
+    if (arr->data){ \
+        for(int i=0; i<arr->size; i++){ \
+            cleanup_fn(&arr->data[i]); \
+        } \
+        rvprof_free(arr->data, arr->capacity * sizeof(type)); \
+        arr->data = NULL; \
+        arr->size = 0; \
+        arr->capacity = 0; \
+    } \
+} 
+
+// full array implementation macro
+#define IMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC_ARRAY(type, name, initial_size, cleanup_fn) \
+    IMPLEMENT_ARRAY_ENSURE_CAPACITY(type, name, initial_size) \
+    IMPLEMENT_ARRAY_CLEANUP(type, name, cleanup_fn)
+
+// type-specific cleanups
+static void cleanup_region_entry(void* item){
+    // region array doesn't need nested cleanup
+    return;
+}
+
+static void cleanup_symbol_entry(void* item){
+    symbol_entry_t* symbol = (symbol_entry_t*)item;
+    rvprof_free(symbol->name, strlen(symbol->name)+1);
+    symbol->name = NULL;
+}
+
+// acutal dynamic array implementations:
+IMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC_ARRAY(region_t, region, INITIAL_REGIONS, cleanup_region_entry)
+IMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC_ARRAY(symbol_entry_t, symbol, INITIAL_SYMBOLS, cleanup_symbol_entry);