tempfile
Create Unique Names for Files

Description

Returns a vector of character strings that are virtually certain to be unique filenames.

Usage

tempfile(pattern = "file", tmpdir = tempdir(), fileext = "")
tempdir(check = FALSE)

Arguments

pattern a vector of character strings to form the beginnings of the returned filenames.
tmpdir the base directory for the filenames.
fileext a string containing the filename extension.
check a logical value. If TRUE, and if tempdir(FALSE), then tempfile does not name an existing directory. Instead, a new, randomly-named directory is created and its name is returned. This design allows tempfile()) to work after the TERR temporary directory is removed (which can happen on systems that periodically remove old, temporary files).

Details

Remember that no file is created by the function the tempfile.
The length of the vector in the result of tempfile depends on the maximum value of the length of pattern and tmpdir.
The returned file names use backslashes as the file path separator on Windows, and forward slashes on other platforms. Thus, these filenames can be passed to system when calling Windows system applications that only accept file names with backslashes.
Value
tempfilereturns a vector of character strings containing the names of files that can be used as temporary files. (pattern sets the first character(s) in each file name, and then each name is appended by a generated number.) The names are virtually certain to be unique from one call to the next.
tempdirreturns the name of a directory in which temporary file names are written. At the start of the session, this directory is created. At the end of the session, this directory is removed, along with all temporary files in it.
See Also
file.exists, unlink. system.
Examples
# Create a directory
tmpdir <- tempfile('foo')
dir.create(tmpdir)

# Create a file in that directory tmpfile <- tempfile('bar', tmpdir) cat('hello', file=tmpfile)

Package base version 6.1.1-7
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