vimtmp

vimtmp (scratch)

Create a temporary scratch file and open it in your default editor.

Usage

vimtmp [OPTIONS]

Description

Creates a temporary file in the system's temporary directory and opens it in your preferred text editor (defined by the EDITOR environment variable). The file persists after the editor closes, allowing you to reference it later in the same session.

This is useful for quick notes, temporary calculations, or drafting text without cluttering your workspace with permanent files.

Prerequisites

• EDITOR environment variable must be set to your preferred editor

Options

• -h, --help: Show help message and exit

Examples

# Create and edit a scratch file
vimtmp

# Show help
vimtmp --help

How it works

1. Checks that EDITOR is set
2. Creates a temporary file using mktemp
3. Displays the file path
4. Opens the file in your editor
5. Returns when you close the editor

The temporary file remains on disk until your system cleans up temporary files (typically on reboot), so you can reference it multiple times in the same session.

Setting your editor

If EDITOR is not set, add it to your shell configuration:

# For vim
export EDITOR=vim

# For nano
export EDITOR=nano

# For VS Code
export EDITOR=code

# For emacs
export EDITOR=emacs

Exit codes

• 0: Scratch file created and editor launched successfully
• 1: EDITOR not set or other error occurred