python temporary files

Question

I have this code:

import tempfile
def tmp_me():
    tmp = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
    tmp1 = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
    lst = [tmp.name, tmp1.name]
    return lst

def exit_dialog():
    lst = tmp_me()
    print lst
    import filecmp
    eq = filecmp.cmp(lst[0],lst[1])
    print eq

exit_dialog()

I need to compare this 2 tempfiles, but i've always getting an error like this:

WindowsError: [Error 2] : 'c:\\users\\Saul_Tigh\\appdata\\local\\temp\\tmpbkpmeq'

Answer 1

Error 2 is that the file is not found (ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).

NamedTemporaryFile has the delete parameter which is by default set to True. Are you sure that the file is not being immediately deleted at the return of your tmp_me method?

You could try using:

tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False)

Answer 2

Have temp_me return the list of the two temp files, instead of just their names (so they don't get garbage collected), and pull the names out in exit_dialog.