TEMPFILE(E)                                           TEMPFILE(E)



NAME
       tempfile - create a temporary file in a safe manner

SYNOPSYS
       tempfile   [-d  DIR]  [-p  STRING]  [-m  MODE]  [-n  FILE]
       [--directory=DIR]     [--prefix=STRING]      [--mode=MODE]
       [--name=FILE] [--help] [--version]

DESCRIPTION
       tempfile  creates  a  temporary file in a safe manner.  It
       uses tempnam(m) 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(m).  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.

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 ALSO
       tempnam(m)



Debian GNU/Linux          24 August 1997              TEMPFILE(E)