TEMPFILE(1)                 General Commands Manual                TEMPFILE(1)



NAME
       tempfile - create a temporary file in a safe manner

SYNOPSIS
       tempfile [-d DIR] [-p STRING] [-s STRING] [-m MODE] [-n FILE] [--direc-
       tory=DIR]     [--prefix=STRING]     [--suffix=STRING]     [--mode=MODE]
       [--name=FILE] [--help] [--version]

DESCRIPTION
       tempfile creates a temporary file in a safe manner.  It uses tempnam(3)
       to choose the name and opens it with O_RDWR | O_CREAT  |  O_EXCL.   The
       filename  is  printed on standard output. See tempnam(3) for the actual
       steps involved in directory selection.

       The directory in which to create the file might be searched for in this
       order (but refer to tempnam(3) for authoritative answers):

       a) In case the environment variable TMPDIR exists and contains the name
          of an appropriate directory, that is used.

       b) Otherwise, if the --directory argument is specified and appropriate,
          it is used.

       c) Otherwise, P_tmpdir (as defined in <stdio.h>) is used when appropri-
          ate.

       d) Finally an implementation-defined directory (/tmp) may be used.

OPTIONS
       -d, --directory DIR
              Place the file in DIR.

       -m, --mode MODE
              Open the file with MODE instead of 0600.

       -n, --name FILE
              Use FILE for the name instead of tempnam(3).   The  options  -d,
              -p, and -s are ignored if this option is given.

       -p, --prefix STRING
              Use up to five letters of STRING to generate the name.

       -s, --suffix STRING
              Generate the file with STRING as the suffix.

       --help Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

       --version
              Print  version  information on standard output and exit success-
              fully.

RETURN VALUES
       An exit status of 0 means the temporary file was created  successfully.
       Any other exit status indicates an error.

BUGS
       Exclusive  creation is not guaranteed when creating files on NFS parti-
       tions.  tempfile cannot make temporary directories.  tempfile is depre-
       cated; you should use mktemp(1) instead.

EXAMPLE
              #!/bin/sh
              #[...]
              t=$(tempfile) || exit
              trap "rm -f -- '$t'" EXIT
              #[...]
              rm -f -- "$t"
              trap - EXIT
              exit

SEE ALSO
       tempnam(3), mktemp(1)



Debian                            27 Jun 2012                      TEMPFILE(1)
