MKTEMP(3C)MKTEMP(3C)NAME
mktemp - make a unique file name from a template
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h>
char *mktemp(char *template);
DESCRIPTION
The mktemp() function replaces the contents of the string pointed to by
template with a unique file name, and returns template. The string in
template should look like a file name with six trailing 'X's; mktemp()
will replace the 'X's with a character string that can be used to cre‐
ate a unique file name. Only 26 unique file names per thread can be
created for each unique template.
RETURN VALUES
The mktemp() function returns a pointer to the template on success and
NULL if unique name cannot be created.
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Generate a filename.
The following example replaces the contents of the "template" string
with a 10-character filename beginning with the characters "file" and
returns a pointer to the "template" string that contains the new file‐
name.
#include <stdlib.h>
...
char template[] = "/tmp/fileXXXXXX";
char *ptr;
ptr = mktemp(template);
USAGE
Between the time a pathname is created and the file opened, it is pos‐
sible for some other process to create a file with the same name. The
mkstemp(3C) function avoids this problem and is preferred over this
function.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │ Standard │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│MT-Level │ Safe │
└────────────────────┴─────────────────┘
SEE ALSOmkstemp(3C), tmpfile(3C), tmpnam(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)
Sep 15, 2004 MKTEMP(3C)