NAME
mktemp - make a unique file name
SYNOPSIS
char *mktemp(template)
char *template;
int mkstemp(template)
char *template;
DESCRIPTION
Mktemp creates a unique file name and returns the address of
the
template. The template should contain a file name with
trailing
X’s, normally something like /tmp/tempXXXXXX. The
X’s are replaced
by the current process number and/or a unique letter
combination.
Mkstemp makes the same replacement to the template but opens
the
template file and returns a file descriptor open for reading
and
writing. Mkstemp avoids the race between testing whether the
file
exists and opening it for use. The number of file name
combinations mktemp and mkstemp will try depends on the
number of
X’s placed on the end of the template; six X’s
will result in them
trying roughly 26 ** 6 combinations.
SEE ALSO
access(2), getpid(2), open(2)
DIAGNOSTICS
Mktemp returns NULL on failure, mkstemp returns -1 if no
suitable
file could be created.