tempfile

TEMPFILE(1)                                                        TEMPFILE(1)



NAME
       tempfile - create a temporary file in a safe manner

SYNOPSYS
       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.

       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 argument, 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 succes-
              fully.

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 parti-
       tions.

SEE ALSO
       tempnam(3) mktemp(1)



Debian                           22 March 2004                     TEMPFILE(1)