mkdtemp

external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: EncodingOption, callback: (err: ErrnoException?, folder: String) -> Unit)(source)

Creates a unique temporary directory.

Generates six random characters to be appended behind a required prefix to create a unique temporary directory. Due to platform inconsistencies, avoid trailing X characters in prefix. Some platforms, notably the BSDs, can return more than six random characters, and replace trailing X characters in prefix with random characters.

The created directory path is passed as a string to the callback's second parameter.

The optional options argument can be a string specifying an encoding, or an object with an encoding property specifying the character encoding to use.

import { mkdtemp } from 'node:fs';
import { join } from 'node:path';
import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';

mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'foo-'), (err, directory) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(directory);
// Prints: /tmp/foo-itXde2 or C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp\foo-itXde2
});

The fs.mkdtemp() method will append the six randomly selected characters directly to the prefix string. For instance, given a directory /tmp, if the intention is to create a temporary directory within/tmp, the prefixmust end with a trailing platform-specific path separator (require('node:path').sep).

import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
import { mkdtemp } from 'node:fs';

// The parent directory for the new temporary directory
const tmpDir = tmpdir();

// This method is *INCORRECT*:
mkdtemp(tmpDir, (err, directory) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(directory);
// Will print something similar to `/tmpabc123`.
// A new temporary directory is created at the file system root
// rather than *within* the /tmp directory.
});

// This method is *CORRECT*:
import { sep } from 'node:path';
mkdtemp(`${tmpDir}${sep}`, (err, directory) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(directory);
// Will print something similar to `/tmp/abc123`.
// A new temporary directory is created within
// the /tmp directory.
});

Since

v5.10.0


external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: String, callback: (err: ErrnoException?, folder: Buffer) -> Unit)(source)
external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: MkdtempOptions, callback: (err: ErrnoException?, folder: Buffer) -> Unit)(source)
external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: EncodingOption, callback: (err: ErrnoException?, folder: Any) -> Unit)(source)

Asynchronously creates a unique temporary directory. Generates six random characters to be appended behind a required prefix to create a unique temporary directory.

Parameters

options

The encoding (or an object specifying the encoding), used as the encoding of the result. If not provided, 'utf8' is used.


external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, callback: (err: ErrnoException?, folder: String) -> Unit)(source)

Asynchronously creates a unique temporary directory. Generates six random characters to be appended behind a required prefix to create a unique temporary directory.


suspend external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String): String(source)
suspend external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: BufferEncodingOption): Buffer(source)


suspend external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: ObjectEncodingOptions? = definedExternally): String(source)
suspend external fun mkdtemp(prefix: String, options: BufferEncoding? = definedExternally): String(source)

Creates a unique temporary directory. A unique directory name is generated by appending six random characters to the end of the provided prefix. Due to platform inconsistencies, avoid trailing X characters in prefix. Some platforms, notably the BSDs, can return more than six random characters, and replace trailing X characters in prefix with random characters.

The optional options argument can be a string specifying an encoding, or an object with an encoding property specifying the character encoding to use.

import { mkdtemp } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { join } from 'node:path';
import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';

try {
await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'foo-'));
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}

The fsPromises.mkdtemp() method will append the six randomly selected characters directly to the prefix string. For instance, given a directory /tmp, if the intention is to create a temporary directory within /tmp, the prefix must end with a trailing platform-specific path separator (require('node:path').sep).

Since

v10.0.0

Return

Fulfills with a string containing the file system path of the newly created temporary directory.