12.3 mkdir: Make directories

mkdir creates directories with the specified names. Synopsis:

mkdir [option]… name…

mkdir creates each directory name in the order given. It reports an error if name already exists, unless the -p option is given and name is a directory.

The program accepts the following options. Also see Common options.

‘-m mode’ ¶

‘--mode=mode’

Set the file permission bits of created directories to mode, which uses the same syntax as in chmod and uses ‘a=rwx’ (read, write and execute allowed for everyone) for the point of the departure. See File permissions. This option affects only directories given on the command line; it does not affect any parents that may be created via the -p option.

Normally the directory has the desired file mode bits at the moment it is created. As a GNU extension, mode may also mention special mode bits, but in this case there may be a temporary window during which the directory exists but its special mode bits are incorrect. See Directories and the Set-User-ID and Set-Group-ID Bits, for how the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of directories are inherited unless overridden in this way.

‘-p’ ¶

‘--parents’

Make any missing parent directories for each argument, setting their file permission bits to ‘=rwx,u+wx’, that is, with the umask modified by ‘u+wx’. Ignore existing parent directories, and do not change their file permission bits.

If the -m option is also given, it does not affect file permission bits of any newly-created parent directories. To control these bits, set the umask before invoking mkdir. For example, if the shell command ‘(umask u=rwx,go=rx; mkdir -p P/Q)’ creates the parent P it sets the parent’s file permission bits to ‘u=rwx,go=rx’. (The umask must include ‘u=wx’ for this method to work.) To set a parent’s special mode bits as well, you can invoke chmod after mkdir. See Directories and the Set-User-ID and Set-Group-ID Bits, for how the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of newly-created parent directories are inherited.

‘-v’ ¶

‘--verbose’

Print a message for each created directory. This is most useful with --parents.

‘-Z’ ¶

‘--context[=context]’

Without a specified context, adjust the SELinux security context according to the system default type for destination files, similarly to the restorecon command. The long form of this option with a specific context specified, will set the context for newly created files only. With a specified context, if both SELinux and SMACK are disabled, a warning is issued.

An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value indicates failure.