The /tmp directory contains mostly files that are required temporarily, it is used by different programs to create lock files and for temporary storage of data. Many of these files are important for currently running programs and deleting them may result in a system crash.
On all if not most Linux systems, the contents of the /tmp directory are deleted (cleared out) at boot time or at shutdown by the local system. This is a standard procedure for system administration, to reduce the amount of storage space used (typically, on a disk drive).
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