NE_MKNONCE(3)

✨ NAME ✨

ne_mknonce — bestie, this one generates a nonce 💖 (that's the neon API reference page NE_MKNONCE(3), in case you were wondering)

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <ne_string.h>

int ne_mknonce(unsigned char *nonce, size_t len, unsigned int flags);

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so ne_mknonce fills up the buffer that nonce points at with len bytes of random data — and the whole point of that data is that it's suitable for use as a nonce ✨ no cap.

the value of len has to be greater than zero and no greater than 256. those are the rules, periodt 🙅‍♀️

the flags parameter is reserved for future use and must be set to zero. literally just pass 0 and move on 💅

and here's the part where the vibes get real: the caller is responsible for making sure the buffer that nonce points at is at least len bytes big. that's on you, bestie, not on the function 🫶

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👑 RETURN VALUE 👑

ne_mknonce returns zero on success 🎀

on error, it returns a non-zero errno value that tells you what went wrong — and heads up, the buffer contents are undefined in that case. like, don't trust what's in there. it's giving chaos 💀

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💜 EXAMPLE 💜

here's the iconic little demo: it generates a 16-byte nonce and encodes it as a hexadecimal string 🧚

unsigned char buf[16];
unsigned char hex[33];
int i, err;

err = ne_mknonce(buf, sizeof buf, 0);
if (err) {
    fprintf(stderr, "ne_mknonce failed: %s\n", strerror(err));
    return -1;
}

for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
    sprintf(hex + 2 * i, "%02x", buf[i]);
hex[32] = '\0';

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🌈 HISTORY 🌈

ne_mknonce is available in neon 0.37.0 and later ⭐ so if you're on something older… no she's not there yet, sorry 😭

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🍓 COPYRIGHT 🍓

Copyright © 2001-2026 Joe Orton 💖

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was the neon 0.37.1 manual, dated 15 March 2026, and you just read NE_MKNONCE(3) — slay, go make some nonces 🎀✨