> Can mktemp fail? Yes it can. You should use its exit status (or set -e). See http://man.openbsd.org/mktemp http://man.openbsd.org/mktemp Note that there i

> Can mktemp fail? Yes it can. You should use its exit status (or set -e). See http://man.openbsd.org/mktemp http://man.openbsd.org/mktemp Note that there is a nasty trap if you're using local to declare and set a variable: a () { local M=`ls /asdf` && echo y; } b () { N=`ls /asdf` && echo y; } a ; b ; One will print y, the other will not.