Temporary Directory (-T)

Operating system and syntax UNIX / Windows -T dirname
Use with Maximum value Minimum value Single-user default Multi-user default
CS,DBS — — Working directory Working directory
dirname
The directory in which to create temporary files.

Use Temporary Directory (-T) to specify a directory for temporary files.

If you do not use this parameter, OpenEdge creates temporary files in the current working directory.

The database broker passes the setting of -T to any servers it spawns. Manual servers and secondary brokers can specify their own -T or take the default; they do not inherit the setting from the primary broker. Remote Client connections can also specify a -T setting different from the server it is connecting to. Temporary space needed in the remote client is stored in its own -T directory. Temporary space needed in the server to process a request for a remote client is stored in the server’s -T directory.

On UNIX and in Windows, these filenames begin with one of the prefixes listed in the table below, and are followed by a number.

Note: Access the -T parameter using the SESSION:TEMP-DIR attribute. This attribute is read-only.

The following table shows descriptions of these prefixes:

Temp file Usage
bcf Internal file for tracking recid changes
dbg Debugger listing file
dbi Stores temporary tables
lbi Local before-image (subtransaction undo)
lst Temporary file used by the compile-listing feature of the COMPILE statement
obj Temporary .r file
*.ped Edit buffer contents. ped is NOT a prefix, it is a file extension.
rcd Cache of r-code being run in a session
rpf Raw data used by the Profiler
srt Temporary sort space
trp Stores Data Dictionary changes until they are saved

On UNIX, OpenEdge names these files uniquely for each user to avoid filename conflicts. Furthermore, OpenEdge stores these files as "unlinked" with no visible name in the UNIX file system, unless you use Save Temp Files (-t).

In Windows, if two or more users share the same working directory and there is a conflict of temporary files, the following message appears: 

Unable to open or create filename, error 3