use of copy and ftp to get my permissions on file

Does this sound like the right idea for editing a file online and keeping the permissions of my user account: open(read) file in include dir from script read/parse/modify into local variable close file copy(pres_ver_file, php's_tmp_dir/old_ver_file); create ( php's_tmp_dir/original_name_new_version, 'w'); write contents to new file. close file ftp( php's_tmp_dir/new_version, original_directory/over_top_of_original ); ftp( php's_tmp_dir/old_version, original_directory/old_version ); delete (php's_tmp_dir/new_version) delete (php's_tmp_dir/old_version) --------------------------------------------------------------------- how do I get the name of the temp directory that PHP is configured for? ---------------------------------------------------------------------