Removing created temp files in unexpected bash exit

Question

I am creating temporary files from a bash script. I am deleting them at the end of the processing, but since the script is running for quite a long time, if I kill it or simply

Answer 1

You could set a "trap" to execute on exit or on a control-c to clean up.

trap '{ rm -f -- "$LOCKFILE"; }' EXIT

Alternatively, one of my favourite unix-isms is to open a file, and then delete it while you still have it open. The file stays on the file system and you can read and write it, but as soon as your program exits, the file goes away. Not sure how you'd do that in bash, though.

BTW: One argument I'll give in favour of mktemp instead of using your own solution: if the user anticipates your program is going to create huge temporary files, he might want set TMPDIR to somewhere bigger, like /var/tmp. mktemp recognizes that, your hand-rolled solution (second option) doesn't. I frequently use TMPDIR=/var/tmp gvim -d foo bar, for instance.