Location of Temporary Files

We can set the location where the files are stored by setting the tempdir attribute. The location can be fetched using gettempdir() method. When we create a temporary file or directory, Python searches in a standard list of directories to find one in which the calling user can create files. 

The list in order of preference is :

1. The directory named by the TMPDIR environment variable.
2. The directory named by the TEMP environment variable.
3. The directory named by the TMP environment variable.
4. A platform-specific directory:
   • On Windows, the directories C:\TEMP, C:\TMP, \TEMP, and \TMP, in that order.
   • On all other platforms, the directories /tmp, /var/tmp, and /usr/tmp, in that order.
5. The current working directory.

Example:

Output:

/temp

We have covered the methods used to create temporary files and directories. We have also covered different operations like creating named temporary files, adding prefixes and suffixes, and setting the location of the temporary files.

Temporary files are a very important concept in Advanced Python programming. Creating and using temporary files will help you in many operations like handling intermediate data, testing, development, etc.

Python tempfile module allows you to create a temporary file and perform various operations on it. Temporary files may be required when we need to store data temporarily during the program’s execution or when we are working with a large amount of data. These files are created with unique names and stored in a platform-dependent default location. The files created using tempfile module are deleted as soon as they are closed. 

In this tutorial, we will cover how to create and edit temporary files: