Part of the solution, if there may be multiple instances of the same script running, may be to maintain a lock file that mediates allocation of file names.

Possibly store the name and a next number for each used file. The atomic access to the lock file then adds a new name or increments the count on an existing name and in the process generates the name to be used.

DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel

In reply to Re: How to move/copy a file without overwriting an existing file by GrandFather
in thread How to move/copy a file without overwriting an existing file by bart

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