The mkdir command¶

The mkdir command in Linux/Unix is used to create a directory.

Syntax¶

bash $ mkdir [-m=mode] [-p] [-v] [-Z=context] directory [directory ...]

Examples¶

1. Make a directory named myfiles. bash $ mkdir myfiles

2. Create a directory named myfiles at the home directory: bash $ mkdir ~/myfiles

3. Create the mydir directory, and set its file mode (-m) so that all users (a) may read (r), write (w), and execute (x) it. bash $ mkdir -m a=rwx mydir

You can also create sub-directories of a directory. It will create the parent directory first, if it doesn't exist. If it already exists, then it move further to create the sub-directories without any error message.

For directories, this means that any user on the system may view ("read"), and create/modify/delete ("write") files in the directory. Any user may also change to ("execute") the directory, for example with the cd command.

1. Create the directory /home/test/src/python. If any of the parent directories /home, /home/test, or /home/test/src do not already exist, they are automatically created. bash $ mkdir -p /home/test/src/python

Options¶