tempfile

The tempfile library creates temporary files and directories, similar to Python’s tempfile module. All temporary paths are created with restrictive permissions (0600 for files, 0700 for directories) and are subject to the same allowedPaths restrictions as other filesystem libraries.

Available Functions

Functions

mkstemp(suffix="", prefix="tmp", dir=None)

Creates a new temporary file and returns its path. The file is created with mode 0600 (owner read/write only) and immediately closed — unlike Python’s mkstemp, which returns a file descriptor, this returns just the path.

Parameters:

• suffix (str, keyword-only): Suffix for the filename. Default: "".
• prefix (str, keyword-only): Prefix for the filename. Default: "tmp".
• dir (str or None, keyword-only): Directory to create the file in. Default: the system temp directory.

Returns: str: the absolute path to the created file.

import tempfile

# Simple temp file
path = tempfile.mkstemp()

# With a specific prefix and suffix
config = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix="app_", suffix=".toml")
# e.g. /tmp/app_4827361.toml

mkdtemp(suffix="", prefix="tmp", dir=None)

Creates a new temporary directory and returns its path. The directory is created with mode 0700 (owner only).

Parameters: Same as mkstemp.

Returns: str: the absolute path to the created directory.

import tempfile

scratch = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="build_")
# e.g. /tmp/build_9182736

# ... use scratch for intermediate files ...

import shutil
shutil.rmtree(scratch)  # clean up

gettempdir()

Returns the system’s default temporary directory. When allowedPaths restricts access and the system temp directory is outside the allowed set, the first allowed path is returned instead.

Returns: str: the temp directory path.

gettempprefix()

Returns the default prefix used for temporary names.

Returns: str: "tmp".

Security Considerations

This is an extended library, requiring registration in Go, see Library Registration.

Temporary files and directories are subject to the same allowedPaths restrictions as other filesystem libraries. When embedding in Go, access is restricted to the allowedPaths passed to RegisterTempfileLibrary(p, allowedPaths):

• If dir is specified and outside allowedPaths, the operation is denied.
• If dir is omitted and the system temp directory is outside allowedPaths, the library falls back to the first allowed path.
• The created path is verified against allowedPaths after creation; if it somehow resolves outside the allowed set, it is immediately removed and an error is raised.

See Library Registration and the Security Guide.

See Also

• shutil: High-level file operations (including rmtree for cleanup)
• os: Operating system interfaces
• pathlib: Object-oriented filesystem paths