use File::Temp qw/tempfile tempdir/;
   my $template = "testtempfileXXXX";
   #my $dir = tempdir(CLEANIP=>1);  #won't remove temp dir after running
   my $dir = File::Temp->newdir();  #will remove temp dir after running
   my ($fh,$path) = tempfile($template, SUFFIX=>".data", UNLINK=>1, DIR=>$dir);
   print "the path is: $path\nthe dir is: $dir\n";