diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb.jl b/base/docs/helpdb.jl
index e93a0095f2dd5..9bd5801833022 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb.jl
@@ -6114,9 +6114,9 @@ See also: :func:`extrema` that returns ``(minimum(x), maximum(x))``
 minmax
 
 doc"""
-    mktemp([parent=tempdir()])
+    mktemp([parent=tempdir()]; suffix="")
 
-Returns `(path, io)`, where `path` is the path of a new temporary file in `parent` and `io` is an open file object for this path.
+Returns `(path, io)`, where `path` is the path of a new temporary file in `parent` (with suffix `suffix`) and `io` is an open file object for this path.
 """
 mktemp(?)
 
diff --git a/base/file.jl b/base/file.jl
index afd1ed3652c91..d650c59ee08bd 100644
--- a/base/file.jl
+++ b/base/file.jl
@@ -188,9 +188,9 @@ end
 tempdir() = dirname(tempname())
 
 # Create and return the name of a temporary file along with an IOStream
-function mktemp(parent=tempdir())
-    b = joinpath(parent, "tmpXXXXXX")
-    p = ccall(:mkstemp, Int32, (Ptr{UInt8},), b) # modifies b
+function mktemp(parent=tempdir(); suffix="")
+    b = joinpath(parent, "tmpXXXXXX$suffix")
+    p = ccall(:mkstemps, Int32, (Ptr{UInt8}, Cint), b, length(suffix))
     systemerror(:mktemp, p == -1)
     return (b, fdio(p, true))
 end
@@ -225,8 +225,19 @@ function tempname(temppath::AbstractString,uunique::UInt32)
     resize!(tname,lentname+1)
     return utf8(UTF16String(tname))
 end
-function mktemp(parent=tempdir())
+function mktemp(parent=tempdir(); suffix="")
     filename = tempname(parent, UInt32(0))
+    if length(suffix) > 0
+        fnlen = length(filename)
+        if fnlen < 4 || lowercase(filename[fnlen-3:end]) != ".tmp"
+            error("mktemp failed: invalid result by GetTempFileName")
+        end
+        new_filename = filename[1:fnlen-4] * suffix
+        # NOTE: new_filename is not guaranteed to be nonexistent,
+        #       but at least then mv will error out.
+        mv(filename, new_filename)
+        filename = new_filename
+    end
     return (filename, Base.open(filename, "r+"))
 end
 function mktempdir(parent=tempdir())
@@ -246,8 +257,8 @@ function mktempdir(parent=tempdir())
 end
 end
 
-function mktemp(fn::Function, parent=tempdir())
-    (tmp_path, tmp_io) = mktemp(parent)
+function mktemp(fn::Function, parent=tempdir(); suffix="")
+    (tmp_path, tmp_io) = mktemp(parent, suffix=suffix)
     try
         fn(tmp_path, tmp_io)
     finally
diff --git a/test/file.jl b/test/file.jl
index f8999120bcdf7..3a38d4695f9fe 100644
--- a/test/file.jl
+++ b/test/file.jl
@@ -219,6 +219,11 @@ close(f)
 @test readall(p) == "Here is some text"
 rm(p)
 
+mktemp(suffix=".foo") do p, f
+    @test isfile(p) == true
+    @test endswith(p, ".foo") == true
+end
+
 let
     tmp_path = mktemp() do p, io
         @test isfile(p)