tempfile.gettempdir()

tempfile.gettempdir()

Return the name of the directory used for temporary files. This defines the default value for the dir argument to all functions in this module.

Python searches a standard list of directories to find one which the calling user can create files in. The list is:

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 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.

The result of this search is cached, see the description of tempdir below.