MKTEMP(3P)                                          POSIX Programmer's Manual                                         MKTEMP(3P)



PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (con-
       sult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface  may  not  be  implemented  on
       Linux.

NAME
       mktemp - make a unique filename (LEGACY)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       char *mktemp(char *template);


DESCRIPTION
       The  mktemp()  function  shall  replace the contents of the string pointed to by template by a unique filename and return
       template. The application shall initialize template to be a filename with six trailing 'X' s; mktemp() shall replace each
       'X' with a single byte character from the portable filename character set.

RETURN VALUE
       The  mktemp()  function shall return the pointer template.  If a unique name cannot be created, template shall point to a
       null string.

ERRORS
       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES
   Generating 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);

APPLICATION 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() function avoids this problem and is preferred over this function.

RATIONALE
       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       This function may be withdrawn in a future version.

SEE ALSO
       mkstemp(), tmpfile(), tmpnam(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <stdlib.h>

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003  Edition,  Standard  for
       Information  Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copy-
       right (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any
       discrepancy  between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard  is  the  referee   document.   The   original   Standard   can   be   obtained   online   at   http://www.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                                           2003                                                    MKTEMP(3P)