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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>11.6. tempfile — Generate temporary files and directories — Python 3.6.7 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" id="documentation_options" data-url_root="../" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 3.6.7 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" /> <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="next" title="11.7. glob — Unix style pathname pattern expansion" href="glob.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="11.5. filecmp — File and Directory Comparisons" href="filecmp.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/tempfile.html" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> </head><body> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="glob.html" title="11.7. glob — Unix style pathname pattern expansion" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="filecmp.html" title="11.5. filecmp — File and Directory Comparisons" accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">3.6.7 Documentation</a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="filesys.html" accesskey="U">11. File and Directory Access</a> »</li> <li class="right"> <div class="inline-search" style="display: none" role="search"> <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input placeholder="Quick search" type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('.inline-search').show(0);</script> | </li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body" role="main"> <div class="section" id="module-tempfile"> <span id="tempfile-generate-temporary-files-and-directories"></span><h1>11.6. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tempfile" title="tempfile: Generate temporary files and directories."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempfile</span></code></a> — Generate temporary files and directories<a class="headerlink" href="#module-tempfile" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/3.6/Lib/tempfile.py">Lib/tempfile.py</a></p> <hr class="docutils" id="index-0" /> <p>This module creates temporary files and directories. It works on all supported platforms. <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="tempfile.TemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryFile</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile" title="tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">NamedTemporaryFile</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryDirectory" title="tempfile.TemporaryDirectory"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryDirectory</span></code></a>, and <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.SpooledTemporaryFile" title="tempfile.SpooledTemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SpooledTemporaryFile</span></code></a> are high-level interfaces which provide automatic cleanup and can be used as context managers. <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkdtemp" title="tempfile.mkdtemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkdtemp()</span></code></a> are lower-level functions which require manual cleanup.</p> <p>All the user-callable functions and constructors take additional arguments which allow direct control over the location and name of temporary files and directories. Files names used by this module include a string of random characters which allows those files to be securely created in shared temporary directories. To maintain backward compatibility, the argument order is somewhat odd; it is recommended to use keyword arguments for clarity.</p> <p>The module defines the following user-callable items:</p> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.TemporaryFile"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">TemporaryFile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>mode='w+b'</em>, <em>buffering=None</em>, <em>encoding=None</em>, <em>newline=None</em>, <em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return a <a class="reference internal" href="../glossary.html#term-file-like-object"><span class="xref std std-term">file-like object</span></a> that can be used as a temporary storage area. The file is created securely, using the same rules as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a>. It will be destroyed as soon as it is closed (including an implicit close when the object is garbage collected). Under Unix, the directory entry for the file is either not created at all or is removed immediately after the file is created. Other platforms do not support this; your code should not rely on a temporary file created using this function having or not having a visible name in the file system.</p> <p>The resulting object can be used as a context manager (see <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Examples</span></a>). On completion of the context or destruction of the file object the temporary file will be removed from the filesystem.</p> <p>The <em>mode</em> parameter defaults to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'w+b'</span></code> so that the file created can be read and written without being closed. Binary mode is used so that it behaves consistently on all platforms without regard for the data that is stored. <em>buffering</em>, <em>encoding</em> and <em>newline</em> are interpreted as for <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#open" title="open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">open()</span></code></a>.</p> <p>The <em>dir</em>, <em>prefix</em> and <em>suffix</em> parameters have the same meaning and defaults as with <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a>.</p> <p>The returned object is a true file object on POSIX platforms. On other platforms, it is a file-like object whose <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">file</span></code> attribute is the underlying true file object.</p> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.O_TMPFILE" title="os.O_TMPFILE"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.O_TMPFILE</span></code></a> flag is used if it is available and works (Linux-specific, requires Linux kernel 3.11 or later).</p> <div class="versionchanged"> <p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 3.5: </span>The <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.O_TMPFILE" title="os.O_TMPFILE"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.O_TMPFILE</span></code></a> flag is now used if available.</p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">NamedTemporaryFile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>mode='w+b'</em>, <em>buffering=None</em>, <em>encoding=None</em>, <em>newline=None</em>, <em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em>, <em>delete=True</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This function operates exactly as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="tempfile.TemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryFile()</span></code></a> does, except that the file is guaranteed to have a visible name in the file system (on Unix, the directory entry is not unlinked). That name can be retrieved from the <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code> attribute of the returned file-like object. Whether the name can be used to open the file a second time, while the named temporary file is still open, varies across platforms (it can be so used on Unix; it cannot on Windows NT or later). If <em>delete</em> is true (the default), the file is deleted as soon as it is closed. The returned object is always a file-like object whose <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">file</span></code> attribute is the underlying true file object. This file-like object can be used in a <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#with"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">with</span></code></a> statement, just like a normal file.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.SpooledTemporaryFile"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">SpooledTemporaryFile</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>max_size=0</em>, <em>mode='w+b'</em>, <em>buffering=None</em>, <em>encoding=None</em>, <em>newline=None</em>, <em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.SpooledTemporaryFile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This function operates exactly as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="tempfile.TemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryFile()</span></code></a> does, except that data is spooled in memory until the file size exceeds <em>max_size</em>, or until the file’s <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fileno()</span></code> method is called, at which point the contents are written to disk and operation proceeds as with <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="tempfile.TemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryFile()</span></code></a>.</p> <p>The resulting file has one additional method, <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rollover()</span></code>, which causes the file to roll over to an on-disk file regardless of its size.</p> <p>The returned object is a file-like object whose <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">_file</span></code> attribute is either an <a class="reference internal" href="io.html#io.BytesIO" title="io.BytesIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">io.BytesIO</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="io.html#io.StringIO" title="io.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">io.StringIO</span></code></a> object (depending on whether binary or text <em>mode</em> was specified) or a true file object, depending on whether <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">rollover()</span></code> has been called. This file-like object can be used in a <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#with"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">with</span></code></a> statement, just like a normal file.</p> <div class="versionchanged"> <p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 3.3: </span>the truncate method now accepts a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">size</span></code> argument.</p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.TemporaryDirectory"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">TemporaryDirectory</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.TemporaryDirectory" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This function securely creates a temporary directory using the same rules as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkdtemp" title="tempfile.mkdtemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkdtemp()</span></code></a>. The resulting object can be used as a context manager (see <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile-examples"><span class="std std-ref">Examples</span></a>). On completion of the context or destruction of the temporary directory object the newly created temporary directory and all its contents are removed from the filesystem.</p> <p>The directory name can be retrieved from the <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code> attribute of the returned object. When the returned object is used as a context manager, the <code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name</span></code> will be assigned to the target of the <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#as"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">as</span></code></a> clause in the <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/compound_stmts.html#with"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">with</span></code></a> statement, if there is one.</p> <p>The directory can be explicitly cleaned up by calling the <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cleanup()</span></code> method.</p> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified">New in version 3.2.</span></p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.mkstemp"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">mkstemp</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em>, <em>text=False</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Creates a temporary file in the most secure manner possible. There are no race conditions in the file’s creation, assuming that the platform properly implements the <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.O_EXCL" title="os.O_EXCL"><code class="xref py py-const docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.O_EXCL</span></code></a> flag for <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.open" title="os.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.open()</span></code></a>. The file is readable and writable only by the creating user ID. If the platform uses permission bits to indicate whether a file is executable, the file is executable by no one. The file descriptor is not inherited by child processes.</p> <p>Unlike <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.TemporaryFile" title="tempfile.TemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TemporaryFile()</span></code></a>, the user of <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> is responsible for deleting the temporary file when done with it.</p> <p>If <em>suffix</em> is not <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, the file name will end with that suffix, otherwise there will be no suffix. <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> does not put a dot between the file name and the suffix; if you need one, put it at the beginning of <em>suffix</em>.</p> <p>If <em>prefix</em> is not <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, the file name will begin with that prefix; otherwise, a default prefix is used. The default is the return value of <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempprefix" title="tempfile.gettempprefix"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempprefix()</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempprefixb" title="tempfile.gettempprefixb"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempprefixb()</span></code></a>, as appropriate.</p> <p>If <em>dir</em> is not <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, the file will be created in that directory; otherwise, a default directory is used. The default directory is chosen from a platform-dependent list, but the user of the application can control the directory location by setting the <em>TMPDIR</em>, <em>TEMP</em> or <em>TMP</em> environment variables. There is thus no guarantee that the generated filename will have any nice properties, such as not requiring quoting when passed to external commands via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.popen()</span></code>.</p> <p>If any of <em>suffix</em>, <em>prefix</em>, and <em>dir</em> are not <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, they must be the same type. If they are bytes, the returned name will be bytes instead of str. If you want to force a bytes return value with otherwise default behavior, pass <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">suffix=b''</span></code>.</p> <p>If <em>text</em> is specified, it indicates whether to open the file in binary mode (the default) or text mode. On some platforms, this makes no difference.</p> <p><a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> returns a tuple containing an OS-level handle to an open file (as would be returned by <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#os.open" title="os.open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.open()</span></code></a>) and the absolute pathname of that file, in that order.</p> <div class="versionchanged"> <p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 3.5: </span><em>suffix</em>, <em>prefix</em>, and <em>dir</em> may now be supplied in bytes in order to obtain a bytes return value. Prior to this, only str was allowed. <em>suffix</em> and <em>prefix</em> now accept and default to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code> to cause an appropriate default value to be used.</p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.mkdtemp"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">mkdtemp</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>suffix=None</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>dir=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.mkdtemp" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Creates a temporary directory in the most secure manner possible. There are no race conditions in the directory’s creation. The directory is readable, writable, and searchable only by the creating user ID.</p> <p>The user of <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkdtemp" title="tempfile.mkdtemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkdtemp()</span></code></a> is responsible for deleting the temporary directory and its contents when done with it.</p> <p>The <em>prefix</em>, <em>suffix</em>, and <em>dir</em> arguments are the same as for <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a>.</p> <p><a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkdtemp" title="tempfile.mkdtemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkdtemp()</span></code></a> returns the absolute pathname of the new directory.</p> <div class="versionchanged"> <p><span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 3.5: </span><em>suffix</em>, <em>prefix</em>, and <em>dir</em> may now be supplied in bytes in order to obtain a bytes return value. Prior to this, only str was allowed. <em>suffix</em> and <em>prefix</em> now accept and default to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code> to cause an appropriate default value to be used.</p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.gettempdir"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">gettempdir</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.gettempdir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return the name of the directory used for temporary files. This defines the default value for the <em>dir</em> argument to all functions in this module.</p> <p>Python searches a standard list of directories to find one which the calling user can create files in. The list is:</p> <ol class="arabic simple"> <li>The directory named by the <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TMPDIR</span></code> environment variable.</li> <li>The directory named by the <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TEMP</span></code> environment variable.</li> <li>The directory named by the <span class="target" id="index-3"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TMP</span></code> environment variable.</li> <li>A platform-specific location:<ul> <li>On Windows, the directories <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">C:\TEMP</span></code>, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">C:\TMP</span></code>, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">\TEMP</span></code>, and <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">\TMP</span></code>, in that order.</li> <li>On all other platforms, the directories <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/tmp</span></code>, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/tmp</span></code>, and <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/usr/tmp</span></code>, in that order.</li> </ul> </li> <li>As a last resort, the current working directory.</li> </ol> <p>The result of this search is cached, see the description of <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.tempdir" title="tempfile.tempdir"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempdir</span></code></a> below.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.gettempdirb"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">gettempdirb</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.gettempdirb" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Same as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempdir" title="tempfile.gettempdir"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempdir()</span></code></a> but the return value is in bytes.</p> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified">New in version 3.5.</span></p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.gettempprefix"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">gettempprefix</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.gettempprefix" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return the filename prefix used to create temporary files. This does not contain the directory component.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.gettempprefixb"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">gettempprefixb</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.gettempprefixb" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Same as <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempprefix" title="tempfile.gettempprefix"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempprefix()</span></code></a> but the return value is in bytes.</p> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified">New in version 3.5.</span></p> </div> </dd></dl> <p>The module uses a global variable to store the name of the directory used for temporary files returned by <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempdir" title="tempfile.gettempdir"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempdir()</span></code></a>. It can be set directly to override the selection process, but this is discouraged. All functions in this module take a <em>dir</em> argument which can be used to specify the directory and this is the recommended approach.</p> <dl class="data"> <dt id="tempfile.tempdir"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">tempdir</code><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.tempdir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>When set to a value other than <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>, this variable defines the default value for the <em>dir</em> argument to the functions defined in this module.</p> <p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempdir</span></code> is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code> (the default) at any call to any of the above functions except <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempprefix" title="tempfile.gettempprefix"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempprefix()</span></code></a> it is initialized following the algorithm described in <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.gettempdir" title="tempfile.gettempdir"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">gettempdir()</span></code></a>.</p> </dd></dl> <div class="section" id="examples"> <span id="tempfile-examples"></span><h2>11.6.1. Examples<a class="headerlink" href="#examples" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>Here are some examples of typical usage of the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-tempfile" title="tempfile: Generate temporary files and directories."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempfile</span></code></a> module:</p> <div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">tempfile</span> <span class="go"># create a temporary file and write some data to it</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">fp</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">tempfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">TemporaryFile</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">b</span><span class="s1">'Hello world!'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go"># read data from file</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">seek</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">read</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="go">b'Hello world!'</span> <span class="go"># close the file, it will be removed</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="go"># create a temporary file using a context manager</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">with</span> <span class="n">tempfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">TemporaryFile</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">fp</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">b</span><span class="s1">'Hello world!'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">seek</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="n">fp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">read</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="go">b'Hello world!'</span> <span class="go">>>></span> <span class="go"># file is now closed and removed</span> <span class="go"># create a temporary directory using the context manager</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">with</span> <span class="n">tempfile</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">TemporaryDirectory</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">tmpdirname</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'created temporary directory'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">tmpdirname</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">>>></span> <span class="go"># directory and contents have been removed</span> </pre></div> </div> </div> <div class="section" id="deprecated-functions-and-variables"> <h2>11.6.2. Deprecated functions and variables<a class="headerlink" href="#deprecated-functions-and-variables" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>A historical way to create temporary files was to first generate a file name with the <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mktemp" title="tempfile.mktemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mktemp()</span></code></a> function and then create a file using this name. Unfortunately this is not secure, because a different process may create a file with this name in the time between the call to <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mktemp" title="tempfile.mktemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mktemp()</span></code></a> and the subsequent attempt to create the file by the first process. The solution is to combine the two steps and create the file immediately. This approach is used by <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> and the other functions described above.</p> <dl class="function"> <dt id="tempfile.mktemp"> <code class="descclassname">tempfile.</code><code class="descname">mktemp</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>suffix=''</em>, <em>prefix='tmp'</em>, <em>dir=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#tempfile.mktemp" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><div class="deprecated"> <p><span class="versionmodified">Deprecated since version 2.3: </span>Use <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a> instead.</p> </div> <p>Return an absolute pathname of a file that did not exist at the time the call is made. The <em>prefix</em>, <em>suffix</em>, and <em>dir</em> arguments are similar to those of <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mkstemp" title="tempfile.mkstemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mkstemp()</span></code></a>, except that bytes file names, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">suffix=None</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">prefix=None</span></code> are not supported.</p> <div class="admonition warning"> <p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p> <p>Use of this function may introduce a security hole in your program. By the time you get around to doing anything with the file name it returns, someone else may have beaten you to the punch. <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.mktemp" title="tempfile.mktemp"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mktemp()</span></code></a> usage can be replaced easily with <a class="reference internal" href="#tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile" title="tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">NamedTemporaryFile()</span></code></a>, passing it the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">delete=False</span></code> parameter:</p> <div class="last highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">f</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">NamedTemporaryFile</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">delete</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">False</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">name</span> <span class="go">'/tmp/tmptjujjt'</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">b</span><span class="s2">"Hello World!</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">13</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">os</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">unlink</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">os</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">path</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">exists</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">name</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">False</span> </pre></div> </div> </div> </dd></dl> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3> <ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#">11.6. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempfile</span></code> — Generate temporary files and directories</a><ul> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples">11.6.1. Examples</a></li> <li><a class="reference internal" href="#deprecated-functions-and-variables">11.6.2. Deprecated functions and variables</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="filecmp.html" title="previous chapter">11.5. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">filecmp</span></code> — File and Directory Comparisons</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="glob.html" title="next chapter">11.7. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">glob</span></code> — Unix style pathname pattern expansion</a></p> <div role="note" aria-label="source link"> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.6/Doc/library/tempfile.rst" rel="nofollow">Show Source </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="glob.html" title="11.7. glob — Unix style pathname pattern expansion" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="filecmp.html" title="11.5. filecmp — File and Directory Comparisons" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">3.6.7 Documentation</a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="filesys.html" >11. 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