makeunique

makeunique is a command-line utility found on Unix-like operating systems. Its primary function is to ensure that a given filename is unique within a directory. When makeunique is executed with a filename as an argument, it checks if a file with that name already exists. If the file does not exist, makeunique simply creates an empty file with the specified name. If a file with that name already exists, makeunique appends a number to the end of the filename to create a unique version. For example, if a file named "report.txt" already exists, makeunique might create "report-1.txt". If "report-1.txt" also exists, it would try "report-2.txt", and so on, until a unique filename is found. The utility then creates an empty file with this newly generated unique name. It is commonly used in scripting to avoid overwriting existing files or to generate distinct names for temporary files. The exact behavior and options of makeunique can vary slightly depending on the specific Unix-like system implementation.