TEMPFILE(1)TEMPFILE(1)NAMEtempfile ‐ create a temporary file in a safe manner
SYNOPSYStempfile [‐d DIR] [‐p STRING] [‐m MODE] [‐n FILE]
[‐‐directory=DIR] [‐‐prefix=STRING] [‐‐mode=MODE]
[‐‐name=FILE] [‐‐help] [‐‐version]
DESCRIPTIONtempfile 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.
The directory to place the file is searched for in the
following order:
a) The directory specified by the environment variable
TMPDIR, if it is writable.
b) The directory specified by the ‐‐directory argu‐
ment, if given.
c) The directory /tmp.
Debian packages using tempfile in maintainer scripts must
depend on debianutils >= 1.6.
OPTIONS
‐d, ‐‐directory DIR
Place the file in DIR.
‐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.
‐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.
‐‐help Print a usage message on standard output and exit
succesfully.
‐‐version
Print version information on standard output and
exist succesfully.
Debian GNU/Linux 24 August 1997 1
TEMPFILE(1)TEMPFILE(1)RETURN VALUES
An exit status of 0 means the temporary file was created
succesfully. Any other exit status indicates an error.
BUGS
Exclusive creation is not guaranteed when creating files
on NFS partitions.
SEE ALSOtempnam(3)Debian GNU/Linux 24 August 1997 2