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)