How can I create a temporary directory and get its path/file name in Python?
In Python 3, TemporaryDirectory
from the tempfile
module can be used.
From the examples:
import tempfile
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdirname:
print('created temporary directory', tmpdirname)
# directory and contents have been removed
To manually control when the directory is removed, don't use a context manager, as in the following example:
import tempfile
temp_dir = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
print(temp_dir.name)
# use temp_dir, and when done:
temp_dir.cleanup()
The documentation also says:
On completion of the context or destruction of the temporary directory object the newly created temporary directory and all its contents are removed from the filesystem.
At the end of the program, for example, Python will clean up the directory if it wasn't removed, e.g. by the context manager or the cleanup()
method. Python's unittest
may complain of ResourceWarning: Implicitly cleaning up <TemporaryDirectory...
if you rely on this, though.
with ...
) is used.
sleep(5)
instead of temp_dir.cleanup()
I can ls
the temporary directory before the program is done and after it's finished the same directory is gone. It's probably best to use a context manager or the cleanup()
method, however.
To expand on another answer, here is a fairly complete example which can cleanup the tmpdir even on exceptions:
import contextlib
import os
import shutil
import tempfile
@contextlib.contextmanager
def cd(newdir, cleanup=lambda: True):
prevdir = os.getcwd()
os.chdir(os.path.expanduser(newdir))
try:
yield
finally:
os.chdir(prevdir)
cleanup()
@contextlib.contextmanager
def tempdir():
dirpath = tempfile.mkdtemp()
def cleanup():
shutil.rmtree(dirpath)
with cd(dirpath, cleanup):
yield dirpath
def main():
with tempdir() as dirpath:
pass # do something here
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
on windows since there is this annoying bug that does not let me go into the temporary directory
In python 3.2 and later, there is a useful contextmanager for this in the stdlib https://docs.python.org/3/library/tempfile.html#tempfile.TemporaryDirectory
If I get your question correctly, you want to also know the names of the files generated inside the temporary directory? If so, try this:
import os
import tempfile
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
# generate some random files in it
files_in_dir = os.listdir(tmp_dir)
Docs.python.org TemporaryDirectory example using a context manager
import tempfile
# create a temporary directory using the context manager
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdirname:
print('created temporary directory', tmpdirname)
# directory and contents have been removed
Using pathlib to facilitate path manipulation on top of tempfile makes it possible to create new paths using the / path operator of pathlib:
import tempfile
from pathlib import Path
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdirname:
temp_dir = Path(tmpdirname)
print(temp_dir, temp_dir.exists())
file_name = temp_dir / "test.txt"
file_name.write_text("bla bla bla")
print(file_name, "contains", file_name.open().read())
# /tmp/tmp81iox6s2 True
# /tmp/tmp81iox6s2/test.txt contains bla bla bla
Outside the context manager, files have been destroyed
print(temp_dir, temp_dir.exists())
# /tmp/tmp81iox6s2 False
print(file_name, file_name.exists())
# /tmp/tmp81iox6s2/test.txt False
Success story sharing
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as dirpath:
, and the temporary directory will automatically cleaned up upon exiting the context manager. docs.python.org/3.4/library/…