Files and directories

`mkdir`

Create directories, optionally with all missing parents.

mkdir [OPTION...] DIRECTORY...

10 of 10 examples run in Debian 13.7 on 2026-10-31 · coreutils 9.7-3 · manual: mkdir(1)

mkdir creates each directory named on the command line. Without options it is strict: the parent must already exist and the directory itself must not, otherwise it fails with an error.

mkdir -p is the form scripts use. It creates every missing parent along the path and treats "already exists" as success, so it can run again and again safely. Pair it with brace expansion to lay out a whole project tree in one line.

New directories get mode 0777 minus your umask (typically 755 or 775). -m sets the mode directly, which avoids a short window where the directory exists with looser permissions.

Examples

Create a directory

$ mkdir reports
> ls -ld reports

output

drwxr-xr-x 2 dev dev 2 Oct 31 20:20 reports

The new directory gets mode drwxr-xr-x here: 777 minus this shell's umask of 022.

Create several directories at once

$ mkdir drafts archive tmp
> ls -d */

output

archive/
data/
drafts/
logs/
photos/
scripts/
src/
tmp/

Each argument is a separate directory. ls -d */ lists only directories, so the three new ones appear among the fixture's own.

Creating a directory that already exists

$ mkdir data

explain

outputexit 1

mkdir: cannot create directory ‘data’: File exists

Plain mkdir treats an existing directory as an error and exits with 1.

Creating a directory whose parent is missing

$ mkdir build/output/logs

explain

outputexit 1

mkdir: cannot create directory ‘build/output/logs’: No such file or directory

Without -p, mkdir only creates the last component, and build/output does not exist yet.

Create a whole path with -p

$ mkdir -p build/output/logs
> mkdir -p build/output/logs
> find build

output

build
build/output
build/output/logs

-p creates build, build/output and build/output/logs in order. The second run does nothing and still succeeds, which makes mkdir -p safe to repeat in scripts.

See what was created

$ mkdir -pv data/2026/march

explain

output

mkdir: created directory 'data/2026'
mkdir: created directory 'data/2026/march'

-v prints one line per directory actually created. data already existed, so only the two new levels are reported.

Lay out a project tree in one command

$ mkdir -p webapp/{src/{api,ui},tests,docs}
> tree webapp

output

webapp
├── docs
├── src
│   ├── api
│   └── ui
└── tests

6 directories, 0 files

This is bash brace expansion, not a mkdir feature: the shell turns the pattern into webapp/src/api webapp/src/ui webapp/tests webapp/docs before mkdir runs, and -p creates webapp and webapp/src on the way.

Create a private directory

$ mkdir -m 700 secrets
> ls -ld secrets

output

drwx------ 2 dev dev 2 Oct 31 20:20 secrets

-m 700 gives the owner full access and everyone else none, set at creation time rather than with a separate permission change afterwards.

Names with spaces

$ mkdir "tax returns" old\ photos
> ls -d */

output

data/
logs/
old photos/
photos/
scripts/
src/
tax returns/

Quotes or a backslash keep the space inside one argument. Without them, mkdir tax returns would create two directories, tax and returns.

A directory named after today's date

$ d=backups/$(date +%F)
> mkdir -p "$d" && echo "created $d"

output

created backups/2026-10-31

date +%F prints YYYY-MM-DD, a name that also sorts chronologically. The date in the output is the day this page was built.

Common pitfalls

mkdir -p with a typo (mkdir -p /var/wwww/site) silently creates the wrong tree. Check the path before relying on -p.
-m applies only to the last directory; parents created by -p get the default umask-based mode.
mkdir dir && cd dir is so common that many people define mkcd() { mkdir -p -- "$1" && cd -- "$1"; } in their ~/.bashrc.

GNU vs BSD and macOS

The examples above ran the GNU/Linux version. These are the differences that matter on macOS and the BSDs (written from their documentation, not run here).

-p, -m and -v work on both GNU and BSD/macOS. The long forms (--parents, --mode, --verbose) are GNU-only.

Options worth knowing

A selection, described in our own words. For the full list, see mkdir(1) or mkdir --help.

Option	What it does
`-p, --parents`	Create missing parents; no error if the directory exists.
`-m, --mode MODE`	Set the permission mode of the new directory.
`-v, --verbose`	Print a line for each directory created.
`-Z`	Set the default SELinux security context on the new directories.

Examples

Common pitfalls

GNU vs BSD and macOS

Options worth knowing

Related