PHP tempnam() Function

The PHP tempnam() function creates a temporary file with a unique name in the specified directory, with access permission set to 0600. If the directory does not exist or is not writable, this function may generate a file in the system's temporary directory, and return the full path to that file, including its name.

Syntax

tempnam(directory, prefix)

Parameters

Return Value

Returns the new temporary filename (with path), or false on failure.

Example:

In the example, a temporary file is created in the current directory. Then it is opened to write some content to it.

<?php
//creating a temporary file
$tempfile = tempnam("", "test");

if(!$tempfile) {
  echo "Unable to create a temporary file.";
} else {
  echo "Temporary file name: ".$tempfile."\n";

  //open the file with w+ mode
  $fp = fopen($tempfile, "w+");

  //writing some content to the temporary file
  fwrite($fp, "Hello World!");
  
  //set the file position to the start
  rewind($fp);
  
  //read and display the content
  echo fread($fp, 1024);

  //close the file
  fclose($fp);

  //delete the file
  unlink($tempfile);
}
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Temporary file name: /tmp/testZ3ffir
Hello World!