Linux mktemp Command

Linux Command Manual

The Linux mktemp command is used to create a temporary file.

mktemp creates a temporary file for use in shell scripts.

Syntax

mktemp [-qu][filename argument]

Parameters:

-q 　Suppresses error messages if an error occurs during execution.
-u 　The temporary file will be deleted before mktemp exits.
[filename argument] 　The filename argument must be in the format "customname.XXXXXX".

Example

When using the mktemp command to generate a temporary file, the filename argument should be provided in the format "filename.XXXX". mktemp will create a temporary file based on the filename argument. Enter the following command at the command prompt:

mktemp tmp.xxxx # Generate a temporary file

After using this command, you can use dir or ls to view the current directory, resulting in the following output:

cmd@cmd-desktop:~$ mktemp tmp.xxxx # Generate a temporary file  
cmd@cmd-desktop:~$ dir # View the current directory  
file test testfile testfile1 tmp.3847 # tmp.3847 has been generated

As shown, the generated temporary file is tmp.3847, where "XXXX" in the filename argument is replaced by 4 randomly generated characters.

Linux Command Manual

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