NAME

       tmpnam - create a name for a temporary file

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

       char *tmpnam(char *s);

DESCRIPTION

       The  tmpnam()  function returns a pointer to a string that is a valid filename, and such that a file with
       this name did not exist at some point in time, so that naive programmers may think it a suitable name for
       a  temporary  file. If the argument s is NULL this name is generated in an internal static buffer and may
       be overwritten by the next call to tmpnam().  If s is not NULL, the name is copied to the character array
       (of length at least L_tmpnam) pointed at by s and the value s is returned in case of success.

       The  path name that is created, has a directory prefix P_tmpdir.  (Both L_tmpnam and P_tmpdir are defined
       in <stdio.h>, just like the TMP_MAX mentioned below.)

RETURN VALUE

       The tmpnam() function returns a pointer to a unique temporary filename, or NULL if a unique  name  cannot
       be generated.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined.

NOTES

       Portable   applications   that   use   threads  cannot  call  tmpnam()  with  NULL  parameter  if  either
       _POSIX_THREAD_SAFE_FUNCTIONS or _POSIX_THREADS is defined.

       The tmpnam() function generates a different string each time it is called, up to TMP_MAX times. If it  is
       called more than TMP_MAX times, the behaviour is implementation defined.

BUGS

       Never use this function. Use mkstemp(3) instead.

CONFORMING TO

       SVID 2, POSIX, BSD 4.3, ISO 9899

SEE ALSO

       mktemp(3), mkstemp(3), tempnam(3), tmpfile(3)

                                                  14 June 1999                                         TMPNAM(3)