MKTEMP(1)

NAME
mktemp - create a temporary file or directory

SYNOPSIS
mktemp [OPTION]... [TEMPLATE]

DESCRIPTION

Create a temporary file or directory, safely, and print its name. TEMPLATE must contain at least 3 consecutive 'X's in last component. If TEMPLATE is not specified, use tmp.XXXXXXXXXX, and --tmpdir is implied. Files are created u+rw, and directories u+rwx, minus umask restrictions.

-d, --directory
    create a directory, not a file

-u, --dry-run
    do not create anything; merely print a name (unsafe)

-q, --quiet
    suppress diagnostics about file/dir-creation failure

--suffix=SUFF
    append SUFF to TEMPLATE; SUFF must not contain a slash. This option is implied if TEMPLATE does not end in X

-p DIR, --tmpdir[=DIR]
    interpret TEMPLATE relative to DIR; if DIR is not specified, use $TMPDIR if set, else /tmp. With this option, TEMPLATE must not be an absolute name; unlike with -t, TEMPLATE may contain slashes, but mktemp creates only the final component

-t  interpret TEMPLATE as a single file name component, relative to a directory: $TMPDIR, if set; else the directory specified via -p; else /tmp [deprecated]

--help
    display this help and exit

--version
    output version information and exit

AUTHOR
Written by Jim Meyering and Eric Blake.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

SEE ALSO
mkstemp(3), mkdtemp(3), mktemp(3)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/mktemp>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) mktemp invocation'

Packaged by Ubuntu (9.10-1ubuntu1)
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.