Temporary file for running a command

Question

How can I run something more simpler than:

echo date > tmp.html && firefox tmp.html && rm tmp.html

Is it possible to get the same without creating and deleting the tmp.html?

Answer 1

/tmp is cleared on boot, so you can do this

date > /tmp/date.html && firefox /tmp/date.html

if you want to open the result of any command in a browser, add this to your shell startup script

function open_in_browser {
  echo $@ > /tmp/temp.html
  firefox /tmp/temp.html
} 

and then you can call

$ open_in_browser `date`

alternatively, if you'd prefer a more secure approach with stdin and better styling, you can use this function instead

function stdin_to_browser {
    local tmpfile=`mktemp /tmp/command-output.XXXXX.html`
    cat - > ${tmpfile}
    sed -i -e '1{s#^#<pre>#;};${s#$#</pre>#;}' ${tmpfile}
    firefox ${tmpfile} 2> /dev/null
}

which would let you

ifconfig | stdin_to_browser

(this example uses @thrig's suggestion of mktemp)