tempname

Unique name for temporary file

Syntax

tmpName = tempname

tmpName = tempname(folderName)

tmpName = tempname returns a character vector containing a unique path for a temporary file in your system’s temporary folder.

tmpName = tempname(folderName) returns a unique path for a temporary file in the specified folder.

Create a temporary file name that has the extension, .dat, by concatenating two character vectors.

tmpName = [tempname,'.dat'];

Create a temporary file name for use in the C:\myTemporaryFiles folder.

tmpName = tempname('C:\myTemporaryFiles');

Create a temporary file name.

filename = tempname;

Create a new file with the temporary file name, and write data to the file.

fileID = fopen(filename,'w');
fwrite(fileID,magic(5));
fclose(fileID);

Folder name, specified as a string scalar or a character vector containing the folder name.

In most cases, tempname generates a universally unique identifier (UUID). However, if you run MATLAB^® without JVM™ software, then tempname generates a random character vector using the CPU counter and time, which is not guaranteed to be unique. For more information about the MATLAB startup option that does not load JVM software, see Commonly Used Startup Options.