create temporary file that will be automatically deleted

[atomicrabbit]

Ok I need to be able to create a temporary file in the same way that php creates a temporary file when uploading files. When a file is uploaded, php will store a temporary file at /home/username/tmp (and can be referenced by $_FILES["upload_name"]["tmp_name"]). Then via php you can use move_uploaded_files to move the temporary files to another location on the server. If the user does not move the file from the tmp directory and the php script finishes or if the move_uploaded_files function fails, php will automatically delete the temporary file.

 

Can this sort of functionality be re-created. I'm looked into tempnam and tmpfile, but neither will accomplish the automatic deleting.

 

Or can someone offer an alternative?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Why not store the file in a session variable? It will be automatically deleted when the session ends.

 

[atomicrabbit]

is that efficient? I read that it could be a problem depending on the size of the file. It could slow down the loading of the page.

[atomicrabbit]

when you say "when the session ends" do I have to close the session?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

By default, the session id cookie has a zero session.cookie_lifetime setting and the cookie expires when all open browser windows/tabs are closed. session garbage collection will then automatically remove the session data files that are older then the session.gc_maxlifetime setting.

[atomicrabbit]

great that's exactly what I needed to know!

 

I guess I can also unset the session to clear all the variables if the script completes successfully as well.

 

Thanks for the insight, PFMaBiSmAd!