Index: Doc/library/tempfile.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/tempfile.rst	(revision 62573)
+++ Doc/library/tempfile.rst	(working copy)
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@
    .. versionadded:: 2.3
 
 
+.. function:: mkstempf([suffix=''[, prefix='tmp'[, dir=None[, text=False]]]])
+
+   As :func:`mkstemp except a file object opened with mode "w+" or "w+b"
+   (depending on the value of *text*) is returned instead of a
+   file descriptor.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
 .. function:: mkdtemp([suffix=''[, prefix='tmp'[, dir=None]]])
 
    Creates a temporary directory in the most secure manner possible. There
Index: Lib/tempfile.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/tempfile.py	(revision 62573)
+++ Lib/tempfile.py	(working copy)
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 __all__ = [
     "NamedTemporaryFile", "TemporaryFile", # high level safe interfaces
     "SpooledTemporaryFile",
-    "mkstemp", "mkdtemp",                  # low level safe interfaces
+    "mkstemp", "mkdtemp", "mkstempf",      # low level safe interfaces
     "mktemp",                              # deprecated unsafe interface
     "TMP_MAX", "gettempprefix",            # constants
     "tempdir", "gettempdir"
@@ -336,6 +336,13 @@
 
     raise IOError, (_errno.EEXIST, "No usable temporary directory name found")
 
+
+def mkstempf(suffix="", prefix=template, dir=None, text=False):
+    "Like mkstemp, but returns a file object instead of a file descriptor."
+    fd, fname = mkstemp(suffix, prefix, dir)
+    f = _os.fdopen(fd, text and "w+" or "w+b")
+    return (f, fname)
+
 def mktemp(suffix="", prefix=template, dir=None):
     """User-callable function to return a unique temporary file name.  The
     file is not created.
Index: Lib/test/test_tempfile.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_tempfile.py	(revision 62573)
+++ Lib/test/test_tempfile.py	(working copy)
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
             "NamedTemporaryFile" : 1,
             "TemporaryFile" : 1,
             "mkstemp" : 1,
+            "mkstempf" : 1,
             "mkdtemp" : 1,
             "mktemp" : 1,
             "TMP_MAX" : 1,
@@ -429,6 +430,47 @@
 test_classes.append(test_mkstemp)
 
 
+class test_mkstempf(TC):
+    """Test mkstempf()."""
+
+    def do_create(self, dir=None, pre="", suf=""):
+        if dir is None:
+            dir = tempfile.gettempdir()
+        try:
+            (f, name) = tempfile.mkstempf(dir=dir, prefix=pre, suffix=suf)
+            (ndir, nbase) = os.path.split(name)
+            adir = os.path.abspath(dir)
+            self.assertEqual(adir, ndir,
+                "Directory '%s' incorrectly returned as '%s'" % (adir, ndir))
+        except:
+            self.failOnException("mkstemp")
+
+        try:
+            self.nameCheck(name, dir, pre, suf)
+        finally:
+            f.close()
+            os.unlink(name)
+
+    def test_basic(self):
+        # mkstemp can create files
+        self.do_create()
+        self.do_create(pre="a")
+        self.do_create(suf="b")
+        self.do_create(pre="a", suf="b")
+        self.do_create(pre="aa", suf=".txt")
+        self.do_create(dir=".")
+
+    def test_choose_directory(self):
+        # mkstemp can create directories in a user-selected directory
+        dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        try:
+            self.do_create(dir=dir)
+        finally:
+            os.rmdir(dir)
+
+test_classes.append(test_mkstempf)
+
+
 class test_mkdtemp(TC):
     """Test mkdtemp()."""