#! /usr/local/bin/python import os import tempfile import sys try: t_path = tempfile.mktemp() ttt = os.open(t_path, os.O_CREAT | os.O_RDWR) # O_RDWR allows read & write except IOError: print 'Error: Couldn\'t create temp file.' sys.exit(0) # always close and remove the temp file # before you exit from script os.close(ttt) os.remove(t_path)