LIBMAKETMPFILE(3)

💖 LIBMAKETMPFILE — the Netpbm sub...() function manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so this is one of those Netpbm Library Functions Manual pages — specifically the one for a lil function called pm_make_tmpfile(). pull up a chair, grab a boba, we're doing this 🧋✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

pm_make_tmpfile() — create a temporary named file

like, it makes you a temp file. with a name. iconic behavior honestly 👑

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <netpbm/pm.h>

pm_make_tmpfile(FILE **       fileP,
                const char ** filenameP);

so you give it two pointers-to-pointers and it fills them in for you. two stars each, no cap. ⭐⭐

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🎀 EXAMPLE 🎀

okay so here's the whole vibe — this lil guy makes a temp file, writes "hello world" to it, then writes some search patterns in there, and then feeds the whole thing to grep like a snack. 🍓

#include <netpbm/pm.h>

FILE * myfileP;
const char * myfilename;

pm_make_tmpfile(&myfileP, &myfilename);

fprintf(myfile, "^account:\\s.*\n");
fprintf(myfile, "^name:\\s.*\n");

fclose(myFileP);

asprintfN(&grepCommand, "grep --file='%s' /tmp/infile >/tmp/outfile");

system(grepCommand);

strfree(grepCommand);

unlink(myfilename);

strfree(myfilename);

💀 not me side-eyeing those variable names — myfile vs myfileP, myFileP vs myfileP, and that asprintfN call missing an argument... bestie I am reporting what's in the page, not fixing it. copy it exactly, k? 🫶

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

This library function is part of Netpbm(1). 🐚

pm_make_tmpfile() creates and opens a temporary file, and hands you back two things: a stream file handle for it, and its name. both. at once. slay. ✨

pm_make_tmpfile() picks a file name that is not already in use, with proper interlocking to make sure it actually creates a file and opens the new file — as opposed to merely opening some existing file. that distinction is the whole point, iykyk. 🔥

If you don't need to access the file by name, use pm_tmpfile() instead, because it's cleaner. With pm_tmpfile(), the operating system always deletes the temporary file when your program exits — even if your program failed to clean up after itself. so like... it's the low-maintenance friend. 🦋

The temporary file goes in the directory named by the TMPFILE environment variable. If TMPFILE is not set, or is set to something unusable (e.g. too long), pm_tmpfile() falls back to the value of the standard C library symbol P_tmpdir (like the standard C library's tmpfile()). so it's giving "we have a backup plan" energy 💜

The name of the file within that directory is like myprog_blrfx, where myprog is the name of your program (arg 0) and the rest is an arbitrary discriminator. so if your program is called myprog you get something like myprog_blrfx — cute, right? 🎀

😭 important bestie warning: if pm_make_tmpfile() is unable to create a temporary file, it issues a message to Standard Error and aborts the program. like, full stop. no graceful exit. so handle your vibes accordingly. 💀

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🌈 HISTORY 🌈

pm_tmpfile() was introduced in Netpbm 10.27 (March 2005). a true elder icon, we stan a legend 👑

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📚 DOCUMENT SOURCE 📚

This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool makeman from HTML source. The master documentation is at

http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/libmaketmpfile.html

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and that's the whole page bestie!! 🥳 no notes, ate, periodt 💅✨

k bye, this was the netpbm documentation manual page, 10 November 2007, for the Netpbm sub...() function(3) — thanks for coming to my ted talk, love u, drink water 🫶🌸💖