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mktemp(3) [linux man page]

MKTEMP(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual							 MKTEMP(3)

NAME
mktemp - make a unique temporary filename SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h> char *mktemp(char *template); Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)): mktemp(): Since glibc 2.12: _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED) && !(_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600) Before glibc 2.12: _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
The mktemp() function generates a unique temporary filename from template. The last six characters of template must be XXXXXX and these are replaced with a string that makes the filename unique. Since it will be modified, template must not be a string constant, but should be declared as a character array. RETURN VALUE
The mktemp() function always returns template. If a unique name was created, the last six bytes of template will have been modified in such a way that the resulting name is unique (i.e., does not exist already) If a unique name could not be created, template is made an empty string. ERRORS
EINVAL The last six characters of template were not XXXXXX. CONFORMING TO
4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001. POSIX.1-2008 removes the specification of mktemp(). NOTES
The prototype is in <unistd.h> for libc4, libc5, glibc1; glibc2 follows the Single Unix Specification and has the prototype in <stdlib.h>. BUGS
Never use mktemp(). Some implementations follow 4.3BSD and replace XXXXXX by the current process ID and a single letter, so that at most 26 different names can be returned. Since on the one hand the names are easy to guess, and on the other hand there is a race between test- ing whether the name exists and opening the file, every use of mktemp() is a security risk. The race is avoided by mkstemp(3). SEE ALSO
mkstemp(3), tempnam(3), tmpfile(3), tmpnam(3) COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.27 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/. GNU
2010-09-20 MKTEMP(3)

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MKTEMP(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual							 MKTEMP(3)

NAME
mktemp - make a unique temporary filename SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h> char *mktemp(char *template); Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)): mktemp(): Since glibc 2.12: _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED) && !(_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600) Before glibc 2.12: _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
The mktemp() function generates a unique temporary filename from template. The last six characters of template must be XXXXXX and these are replaced with a string that makes the filename unique. Since it will be modified, template must not be a string constant, but should be declared as a character array. RETURN VALUE
The mktemp() function always returns template. If a unique name was created, the last six bytes of template will have been modified in such a way that the resulting name is unique (i.e., does not exist already) If a unique name could not be created, template is made an empty string. ERRORS
EINVAL The last six characters of template were not XXXXXX. CONFORMING TO
4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001. POSIX.1-2008 removes the specification of mktemp(). NOTES
The prototype is in <unistd.h> for libc4, libc5, glibc1; glibc2 follows the Single UNIX Specification and has the prototype in <stdlib.h>. BUGS
Never use mktemp(). Some implementations follow 4.3BSD and replace XXXXXX by the current process ID and a single letter, so that at most 26 different names can be returned. Since on the one hand the names are easy to guess, and on the other hand there is a race between test- ing whether the name exists and opening the file, every use of mktemp() is a security risk. The race is avoided by mkstemp(3). SEE ALSO
mkstemp(3), tempnam(3), tmpfile(3), tmpnam(3) COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.44 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/. GNU
2010-09-20 MKTEMP(3)
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