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TMPFILE

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2016-03-15
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NAME

tmpfile - create a temporary file

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

FILE *tmpfile(void);

DESCRIPTION

The tmpfile() function opens a unique temporary file in binary read/write (w+b) mode. The file will be automatically deleted when it is closed or the program terminates.

RETURN VALUE

The tmpfile() function returns a stream descriptor, or NULL if a unique filename cannot be generated or the unique file cannot be opened. In the latter case, errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

EACCES: Search permission denied for directory in file's path prefix.
EEXIST: Unable to generate a unique filename.
EINTR: The call was interrupted by a signal; see signal(7).
EMFILE: The per-process limit on the number of open file descriptors has been reached.
ENFILE: The system-wide limit on the total number of open files has been reached.
ENOSPC: There was no room in the directory to add the new filename.
EROFS: Read-only filesystem.

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface	Attribute	Value
tmpfile()	Thread safety	MT-Safe

CONFORMING TO

POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99, SVr4, 4.3BSD, SUSv2.

NOTES

POSIX.1-2001 specifies: an error message may be written to stdout if the stream cannot be opened.

The standard does not specify the directory that tmpfile() will use. Glibc will try the path prefix P_tmpdir defined in <stdio.h>, and if that fails the directory /tmp.

COLOPHON

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