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 create 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 filename.

#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 possible 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(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

SEE ALSO

mkstemp(3C), tmpfile(3C), tmpnam(3C), attributes(7), standards(7)