man3/mkdtemp.3

   1 .\" Copyright 2001 John Levon <moz@compsoc.man.ac.uk>
   2 .\" Based on mkstemp(3), Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (david@prism.demon.co.uk)
   3 .\" and GNU libc documentation
   4 .\"
   5 .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft
   6 .TH MKDTEMP 3  2021-03-22 "Linux man-pages (unreleased)" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
   7 .SH NAME
   8 mkdtemp \- create a unique temporary directory
   9 .SH LIBRARY
  10 Standard C library
  11 .RI ( libc ", " \-lc )
  12 .SH SYNOPSIS
  13 .nf
  14 .B #include <stdlib.h>
  15 .PP
  16 .BI "char *mkdtemp(char *" template );
  17 .fi
  18 .PP
  19 .RS -4
  20 Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
  21 .BR feature_test_macros (7)):
  22 .RE
  23 .PP
  24 .BR mkdtemp ():
  25 .nf
  26     /* Since glibc 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
  27         || /* Glibc 2.19 and earlier: */ _BSD_SOURCE
  28         || /* Since glibc 2.10: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
  29 .fi
  30 .SH DESCRIPTION
  31 The
  32 .BR mkdtemp ()
  33 function generates a uniquely named temporary
  34 directory from \fItemplate\fP.
  35 The last six characters of \fItemplate\fP
  36 must be XXXXXX and these are replaced with a string that makes the
  37 directory name unique.
  38 The directory is then created with
  39 permissions 0700.
  40 Since it will be modified,
  41 .I template
  42 must not be a string constant, but should be declared as a character array.
  43 .SH RETURN VALUE
  44 The
  45 .BR mkdtemp ()
  46 function returns a pointer to the modified template
  47 string on success, and NULL on failure, in which case
  48 .I errno
  49 is set to indicate the error.
  50 .SH ERRORS
  51 .TP
  52 .B EINVAL
  53 The last six characters of \fItemplate\fP were not XXXXXX.
  54 Now \fItemplate\fP is unchanged.
  55 .PP
  56 Also see
  57 .BR mkdir (2)
  58 for other possible values for \fIerrno\fP.
  59 .SH VERSIONS
  60 Available since glibc 2.1.91.
  61 .SH ATTRIBUTES
  62 For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
  63 .BR attributes (7).
  64 .ad l
  65 .nh
  66 .TS
  67 allbox;
  68 lbx lb lb
  69 l l l.
  70 Interface       Attribute       Value
  71 T{
  72 .BR mkdtemp ()
  73 T}      Thread safety   MT-Safe
  74 .TE
  75 .hy
  76 .ad
  77 .sp 1
  78 .SH STANDARDS
  79 POSIX.1-2008.
  80 This function is present on the BSDs.
  81 .\" As at 2006, this function is being considered for a revision of POSIX.1
  82 .\" Also in NetBSD 1.4.
  83 .SH SEE ALSO
  84 .BR mktemp (1),
  85 .BR mkdir (2),
  86 .BR mkstemp (3),
  87 .BR mktemp (3),
  88 .BR tempnam (3),
  89 .BR tmpfile (3),
  90 .BR tmpnam (3)