node-temp
Temporary files, directories, and streams for Node.js.
Handles generating a unique file/directory name under the appropriate
system temporary directory, changing the file to an appropriate mode,
and supports automatic removal (if asked)
temp
has a similar API to the fs
module.
Node.js Compatibility
Supports v0.6.0+.
Please let me know if you have problems running it on a later version of Node.js or
have platform-specific problems.
Installation
Install it using npm:
$ npm install temp
Or get it directly from:
http://github.com/bruce/node-temp
Synopsis
You can create temporary files with open
and openSync
, temporary
directories with mkdir
and mkdirSync
, or you can get a unique name
in the system temporary directory with path
.
Working copies of the following examples can be found under the
examples
directory.
Temporary Files
To create a temporary file use open
or openSync
, passing
them an optional prefix, suffix, or both (see below for details on
affixes). The object passed to the callback (or returned) has
path
and fd
keys:
{ path: "/path/to/file",
, fd: theFileDescriptor
}
In this example we write to a temporary file and call out to grep
and
wc -l
to determine the number of time foo
occurs in the text. The
temporary file is chmod'd 0600
and cleaned up automatically when the
process at exit (because temp.track()
is called):
var temp = require('temp'),
fs = require('fs'),
util = require('util'),
exec = require('child_process').exec;
temp.track();
var myData = "foo\nbar\nfoo\nbaz";
temp.open('myprefix', function(err, info) {
fs.write(info.fd, myData);
fs.close(info.fd, function(err) {
exec("grep foo '" + info.path + "' | wc -l", function(err, stdout) {
util.puts(stdout.trim());
});
});
});
Want Cleanup? Make sure you ask for it.
As noted in the example above, if you want temp to track the files and directories
it creates and handle removing those files and directories on exit, you must call track()
.
It's recommended that you do this immediately after requiring the module.
var temp = require("temp");
temp.track();
Why is this necessary? In pre-0.6 versions of temp, tracking was automatic. While this works
great for scripts and Grunt tasks, it's not so great for long-running
server processes. Since that's arguably what Node.js is for, you have to opt-in to tracking.
But it's easy.
Cleanup anytime
When tracking, you can cleanup()
anytime. An object will be returned with cleanup statistics
and the file/directory lists will be reset.
> temp.cleanup();
{ files: { removed: 1, missing: 0 },
dirs: { removed: 0, missing: 0 } }
Note: If you're not tracking, false
will be returned.
Temporary Directories
To create a temporary directory, use mkdir
or mkdirSync
, passing
it an optional prefix, suffix, or both (see below for details on affixes).
In this example we create a temporary directory, write to a file
within it, call out to an external program to create a PDF, and read
the result. While the external process creates a lot of additional
files, the temporary directory is removed automatically at exit (because
temp.track()
is called):
var temp = require('../lib/temp'),
fs = require('fs'),
util = require('util'),
path = require('path'),
exec = require('child_process').exec;
temp.track();
var myData = "\\starttext\nHello World\n\\stoptext";
temp.mkdir('pdfcreator', function(err, dirPath) {
var inputPath = path.join(dirPath, 'input.tex')
fs.writeFile(inputPath, myData, function(err) {
if (err) throw err;
process.chdir(dirPath);
exec("texexec '" + inputPath + "'", function(err) {
if (err) throw err;
fs.readFile(path.join(dirPath, 'input.pdf'), function(err, data) {
if (err) throw err;
sys.print(data);
});
});
});
});
Temporary Streams
To create a temporary WriteStream, use 'createWriteStream', which sits
on top of fs.createWriteStream
. The return value is a
fs.WriteStream
whose path
is registered for removal when
temp.cleanup
is called (because temp.track()
is called).
var temp = require('temp');
temp.track();
var stream = temp.createWriteStream();
stream.write("Some data");
stream.end();
Affixes
You can provide custom prefixes and suffixes when creating temporary
files and directories. If you provide a string, it is used as the prefix
for the temporary name. If you provide an object with prefix
,
suffix
and dir
keys, they are used for the temporary name.
Here are some examples:
"aprefix"
: A simple prefix, prepended to the filename; this is
shorthand for:{prefix: "aprefix"}
: A simple prefix, prepended to the filename{suffix: ".asuffix"}
: A suffix, appended to the filename
(especially useful when the file needs to be named with specific
extension for use with an external program).{prefix: "myprefix", suffix: "mysuffix"}
: Customize both affixes{dir: path.join(os.tmpDir()), "myapp"}
: default prefix and suffix
within a new temporary directory.null
: Use the defaults for files and directories (prefixes "f-"
and "d-"
, respectively, no suffixes).
In this simple example we read a pdf
, write it to a temporary file with
a .pdf
extension, and close it.
var fs = require('fs'),
temp = require('temp');
fs.readFile('/path/to/source.pdf', function(err, data) {
temp.open({suffix: '.pdf'}, function(err, info) {
if (err) throw err;
fs.write(info.fd, contents);
fs.close(info.fd, function(err) {
if (err) throw err;
});
});
});
Just a path, please
If you just want a unique name in your temporary directory, use
path
:
var fs = require('fs');
var tempName = temp.path({suffix: '.pdf'});
Note: The file isn't created for you, and the mode is not changed -- and it
will not be removed automatically at exit. If you use path
, it's
all up to you.
Using it with Grunt
If you want to use the module with Grunt, make sure you
use async()
in your Gruntfile:
module.exports = function (grunt) {
var temp = require("temp");
temp.track();
grunt.registerTast("temptest", "Testing temp", function() {
var done = this.async();
grunt.log.writeln("About to write a file...");
temp.open('tempfile', function(err, info) {
grunt.log.writeln("Wrote a file!")
done();
});
});
};
For more information, see the Grunt FAQ.
Testing
For now, run test/temp-test.js
:
$ node test/temp-test.js
Contributing
You can find the repository at:
http://github.com/bruce/node-temp
Issues/Feature Requests can be submitted at:
http://github.com/bruce/node-temp/issues
I'd really like to hear your feedback, and I'd love to receive your
pull-requests!
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010-2012 Bruce Williams. See LICENSE for details.