<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
a	O
temporary	B-Application
folder	I-Application
or	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
is	O
a	O
directory	B-Application
used	O
to	O
hold	O
temporary	B-Application
files	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
and	O
some	O
software	O
automatically	O
delete	O
the	O
contents	O
of	O
this	O
directory	B-Application
at	O
bootup	B-Operating_System
or	O
at	O
regular	O
intervals	O
,	O
leaving	O
the	O
directory	B-Application
itself	O
intact	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
security	O
reasons	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
best	O
for	O
each	O
user	O
to	O
have	O
their	O
own	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
,	O
since	O
there	O
has	O
been	O
a	O
history	O
of	O
security	O
vulnerabilities	O
with	O
temporary	B-Application
files	I-Application
due	O
to	O
programs	O
incorrect	O
file	O
permissions	O
or	O
race	B-Operating_System
conditions	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
standard	O
procedure	O
for	O
system	B-Application
administration	I-Application
is	O
to	O
reduce	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
storage	O
space	O
used	O
(	O
typically	O
,	O
on	O
a	O
disk	O
drive	O
)	O
by	O
removing	O
temporary	B-Application
files	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
the	O
/tmp	O
directory	B-Application
will	O
often	O
be	O
a	O
separate	O
disk	B-Application
partition	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
systems	O
with	O
magnetic	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
performance	O
(	O
overall	O
system	O
IOPS	O
)	O
will	O
increase	O
if	O
disk-head	O
movements	O
from	O
regular	O
disk	O
I/O	O
are	O
separated	O
from	O
the	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Increasingly	O
,	O
memory-based	O
solutions	O
for	O
the	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
or	O
folder	O
are	O
being	O
used	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
RAM	B-Application
disks	I-Application
"	O
set	O
up	O
in	O
random-access	B-Architecture
memory	I-Architecture
or	O
the	O
shared-memory	O
device	O
in	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Flash-based	O
solid-state	B-Device
drive	I-Device
is	O
less	O
suitable	O
as	O
a	O
temporary-storage	O
device	O
for	O
reading	O
and	O
writing	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
asymmetric	O
read/write	O
duration	O
and	O
due	O
to	O
wear	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
See	O
wear	B-Application
leveling	I-Application
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
the	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
is	O
set	O
by	O
the	O
environment	O
variable	O
or	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
the	O
Window	O
API	O
,	O
one	O
can	O
find	O
the	O
path	O
to	O
the	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
using	O
the	O
function	O
,	O
or	O
one	O
can	O
obtain	O
a	O
path	O
to	O
a	O
uniquely-named	O
temporary	B-Application
file	I-Application
using	O
the	O
function	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
WindowsXP	O
era	O
,	O
the	O
temporary	B-Application
directory	I-Application
was	O
set	O
per-user	O
as	O
,	O
although	O
still	O
user-relocatable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
all	O
versions	O
of	O
Windows	O
,	O
the	O
Temp	O
location	O
can	O
be	O
accessed	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
in	O
Explorer	O
,	O
"	O
Run	O
...	O
"	O
boxes	O
and	O
in	O
an	O
application	O
's	O
internal	O
code	O
by	O
using	O
or	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
the	O
global	O
temporary	B-Application
directories	I-Application
are	O
and	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Web	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
periodically	O
write	O
data	O
to	O
the	O
tmp	O
directory	B-Application
during	O
page	O
views	O
and	O
downloads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typically	O
,	O
is	O
for	O
persistent	O
files	O
(	O
as	O
it	O
may	O
be	O
preserved	O
over	O
reboots	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
for	O
more	O
temporary	B-Application
files	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
See	O
Filesystem	B-Application
Hierarchy	I-Application
Standard	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
a	O
user	O
can	O
set	O
their	O
TMPDIR	B-Application
environment	O
variable	O
to	O
point	O
to	O
a	O
preferred	O
directory	B-Application
(	O
where	O
the	O
creation	O
and	O
modification	O
of	O
files	O
is	O
allowed	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
macOS	B-Application
,	O
a	O
sandboxed	O
application	O
cannot	O
use	O
the	O
standard	O
Unix	B-Application
locations	O
,	O
but	O
may	O
use	O
a	O
user-specific	O
directory	B-Application
whose	O
path	O
is	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
function	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
OpenVMS	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
in	O
AmigaDOS	B-Operating_System
are	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
