Content-type: text/html Man page of mktemp

mktemp

Section: Standard C Library Functions (3C)
Updated: 15 Sep 2004
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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 the pointer template. If a unique name cannot be created, template points to a null string.  

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(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPEATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface StabilityStandard
MT-LevelSafe

 

SEE ALSO

mkstemp(3C), tmpfile(3C), tmpnam(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
RETURN VALUES
ERRORS
EXAMPLES
USAGE
ATTRIBUTES
SEE ALSO

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Time: 02:37:26 GMT, October 02, 2010