Working in and with Temporary Folders

Sometimes, we have to create a (totally random named) temporary folder, do some stuff in it and then delete everything. Here’s the way

# Let's generate a random name for our temporary folder
$TempDir = [System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString()
# Now we can create our temporary folder
New-Item -Type Directory -Name $TempDir
# Let's go in our newly created temporary folder
Set-Location $TempDir

<do what you have to do in the Temp Directory...>

# Let's remove everything we put in our temporary folder
Remove-Item *.* -Force
# Let's go one level up
Set-Location ..
# And delete our temporary folder
Remove-Item $TempDir

 
Wanna do it in a “clean” temporary structure, let’s do it in $env:temp

# Where are we?
$location = $pwd.Path
# Let's generate a random name for our temporary folder
$TempDir = [System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString()
# Let's go in the temp environment variable
Set-Location $env:temp
# Now we can create our temporary folder
New-Item -Type Directory -Name $TempDir
# Let's go in our newly created temporary folder
Set-Location $TempDir

<do what you have to do in the Temp Directory...>

# Let's remove everything we put in our temporary folder
Remove-Item *.* -Force
# Let's go one level up
Set-Location ..
# And delete our temporary folder
Remove-Item $TempDir
# Let's go back to our initial location
Set-Location $location

 
Another way to do it is decribed (the part that creates the temporary folder only) here: http://joelangley.blogspot.fr/2009/06/temp-directory-in-powershell.html