_tempnam, _wtempnam, tmpnam, _wtmpnam

Generate names you can use to create temporary files. More secure versions of some of these functions are available; see tmpnam_s, _wtmpnam_s.

Syntax

char *_tempnam(
   const char *dir,
   const char *prefix
);
wchar_t *_wtempnam(
   const wchar_t *dir,
   const wchar_t *prefix
);
char *tmpnam(
   char *str
);
wchar_t *_wtmpnam(
   wchar_t *str
);

Parameters

prefix
The string that's prepended to names returned by _tempnam.

dir
The path used in the file name if there's no TMP environment variable, or if TMP isn't a valid directory.

str
Pointer that holds the generated name, identical to the name returned by the function. It's a convenient way to save the generated name.

Return value

Each of these functions returns a pointer to the name generated or NULL if there's a failure. Failure can occur if you attempt more than TMP_MAX (see STDIO.H) calls with tmpnam or if you use _tempnam and there's an invalid directory name specified in the TMP environment variable and in the dir parameter.

Remarks

Each of these functions returns the name of a file that doesn't currently exist. tmpnam returns a name that's unique in the designated Windows temporary directory returned by GetTempPathW. _tempnam generates a unique name in a directory other than the designated one. When a file name is prepended with a backslash and no path information, such as \fname21, it indicates that the name is valid for the current working directory.

For tmpnam, you can store this generated file name in str. If str is NULL, then tmpnam leaves the result in an internal static buffer. Thus any subsequent calls destroy this value. The name generated by tmpnam consists of a program-generated file name and, after the first call to tmpnam, a file extension of sequential numbers in base 32 (.1-.vvu, when TMP_MAX in STDIO.H is 32,767).

_tempnam generates a unique file name for a directory chosen by the following rules:

• If the TMP environment variable is defined and set to a valid directory name, unique file names are generated for the directory specified by TMP.

• If the TMP environment variable isn't defined or if it's set to the name of a directory that doesn't exist, _tempnam uses the dir parameter as the path for which it generates unique names.

• If the TMP environment variable isn't defined or if it's set to the name of a directory that doesn't exist, and if dir is either NULL or set to the name of a directory that doesn't exist, _tempnam uses the current working directory to generate unique names. Currently, if both TMP and dir specify names of directories that don't exist, the _tempnam function call fails.

The name returned by _tempnam is a concatenation of prefix and a sequential number, which combine to create a unique file name for the specified directory. _tempnam generates file names that have no extension. _tempnam uses malloc to allocate space for the filename; the program is responsible for freeing this space when it's no longer needed.

_tempnam and tmpnam automatically handle multibyte-character string arguments as appropriate, recognizing multibyte-character sequences according to the OEM code page obtained from the operating system. _wtempnam is a wide-character version of _tempnam; the arguments and return value of _wtempnam are wide-character strings. _wtempnam and _tempnam behave identically except that _wtempnam doesn't handle multibyte-character strings. _wtmpnam is a wide-character version of tmpnam; the argument and return value of _wtmpnam are wide-character strings. _wtmpnam and tmpnam behave identically except that _wtmpnam doesn't handle multibyte-character strings.

If _DEBUG and _CRTDBG_MAP_ALLOC are defined, _tempnam and _wtempnam are replaced by calls to _tempnam_dbg and _wtempnam_dbg.

Generic-text routine mappings

Requirements

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_tempnam.c
// compile with: /W3
// This program uses tmpnam to create a unique filename in the
// temporary directory, and _tempname to create a unique filename
// in C:\\tmp.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(void)
{
   char * name1 = NULL;
   char * name2 = NULL;
   char * name3 = NULL;

   // Create a temporary filename for the current working directory:
   if ((name1 = tmpnam(NULL)) != NULL) { // C4996
   // Note: tmpnam is deprecated; consider using tmpnam_s instead
      printf("%s is safe to use as a temporary file.\n", name1);
   } else {
      printf("Cannot create a unique filename\n");
   }

   // Create a temporary filename in temporary directory with the
   // prefix "stq". The actual destination directory may vary
   // depending on the state of the TMP environment variable and
   // the global variable P_tmpdir.

   if ((name2 = _tempnam("c:\\tmp", "stq")) != NULL) {
      printf("%s is safe to use as a temporary file.\n", name2);
   } else {
      printf("Cannot create a unique filename\n");
   }

   // When name2 is no longer needed:
   if (name2) {
      free(name2);
   }

   // Unset TMP environment variable, then create a temporary filename in C:\tmp.
   if (_putenv("TMP=") != 0) {
      printf("Could not remove TMP environment variable.\n");
   }

   // With TMP unset, we'll use C:\tmp as the temporary directory.
   // Create a temporary filename in C:\tmp with prefix "stq".
   if ((name3 = _tempnam("c:\\tmp", "stq")) != NULL) {
      printf("%s is safe to use as a temporary file.\n", name3);
   }
   else {
      printf("Cannot create a unique filename\n");
   }

   // When name3 is no longer needed:
   if (name3) {
      free(name3);
   }

   return 0;
}

C:\Users\LocalUser\AppData\Local\Temp\sriw.0 is safe to use as a temporary file.
C:\Users\LocalUser\AppData\Local\Temp\stq2 is safe to use as a temporary file.
c:\tmp\stq3 is safe to use as a temporary file.

See also

Stream I/O
_getmbcp
malloc
_setmbcp
tmpfile
tmpfile_s