Cross-platform way of getting temp directory in Python
Question: Is there a cross-platform way of getting the path to the _`temp`_ directory in
Python 2.6?

For example, under Linux that would be `/tmp`, while under XP `C:\Documents
and settings\[user]\Application settings\Temp`.

Thanks!


Answer: That would be the [tempfile](http://docs.python.org/library/tempfile.html)
module.

It has functions to get the temporary directory, and also has some shortcuts
to create temporary files and directories in it, either named or unnamed.

Example:

    
    
    import tempfile
    
    print tempfile.gettempdir() # prints the current temporary directory
    
    f = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
    f.write('something on temporaryfile')
    f.seek(0) # return to beginning of file
    print f.read() # reads data back from the file
    f.close() # temporary file is automatically deleted here
    

For completeness, here's how it searches for the temporary directory,
according to the documentation:

  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 location: 
     * On _RiscOS_ , the directory named by the `Wimp$ScrapDir` environment variable.
     * 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. As a last resort, the current working directory.

