'\" t .\" Copyright 2001 John Levon .\" Based on mkstemp(3), Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (david@prism.demon.co.uk) .\" and GNU libc documentation .\" .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft .TH mkdtemp 3 2023-02-05 "Linux man-pages 6.03" .SH NAME mkdtemp \- create a unique temporary directory .SH LIBRARY Standard C library .RI ( libc ", " \-lc ) .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B #include .PP .BI "char *mkdtemp(char *" template ); .fi .PP .RS -4 Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see .BR feature_test_macros (7)): .RE .PP .BR mkdtemp (): .nf /* Since glibc 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE || /* glibc 2.19 and earlier: */ _BSD_SOURCE || /* Since glibc 2.10: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L .fi .SH DESCRIPTION The .BR mkdtemp () function generates a uniquely named temporary directory from \fItemplate\fP. The last six characters of \fItemplate\fP must be XXXXXX and these are replaced with a string that makes the directory name unique. The directory is then created with permissions 0700. Since it will be modified, .I template must not be a string constant, but should be declared as a character array. .SH RETURN VALUE The .BR mkdtemp () function returns a pointer to the modified template string on success, and NULL on failure, in which case .I errno is set to indicate the error. .SH ERRORS .TP .B EINVAL The last six characters of \fItemplate\fP were not XXXXXX. Now \fItemplate\fP is unchanged. .PP Also see .BR mkdir (2) for other possible values for \fIerrno\fP. .SH VERSIONS Available since glibc 2.1.91. .SH ATTRIBUTES For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see .BR attributes (7). .ad l .nh .TS allbox; lbx lb lb l l l. Interface Attribute Value T{ .BR mkdtemp () T} Thread safety MT-Safe .TE .hy .ad .sp 1 .SH STANDARDS POSIX.1-2008. This function is present on the BSDs. .\" As at 2006, this function is being considered for a revision of POSIX.1 .\" Also in NetBSD 1.4. .SH SEE ALSO .BR mktemp (1), .BR mkdir (2), .BR mkstemp (3), .BR mktemp (3), .BR tempnam (3), .BR tmpfile (3), .BR tmpnam (3)