How to create a temporary directory?

bash temporary-directory
Xiè Jìléi picture Xiè Jìléi · Jan 8, 2011 · Viewed 141.8k times · Source

I use to create a tempfile, delete it and recreate it as a directory:

temp=`tempfile`
rm -f $temp
  # <breakpoint>
mkdir $temp

The problem is, when it runs to the <breakpoint>, there happens to be another program wants to do the same thing, which mkdir-ed a temp dir with the same name, will cause the failure of this program.

Answer

moinudin picture moinudin · Jan 8, 2011

Use mktemp -d. It creates a temporary directory with a random name and makes sure that file doesn't already exist. You need to remember to delete the directory after using it though.

Related questions

Temporary operation in a temporary directory in shell script

I need a fresh temporary directory to do some work in a shell script. When the work is done (or if I kill the job midway), I want the script to change back to the old working directory and wipe …

Read More
How to concatenate string variables in Bash

In PHP, strings are concatenated together as follows: $foo = "Hello"; $foo .= " World"; Here, $foo becomes "Hello World". How is this accomplished in Bash?

Read More
How can I check if a directory exists in a Bash shell script?

What command can be used to check if a directory exists or not, within a Bash shell script?

Read More