MKDIR
Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (1P)
Updated: 2017
Page Index
PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
mkdir
--- make directories
SYNOPSIS
mkdir [-p] [-m mode] dir...
DESCRIPTION
The
mkdir
utility shall create the directories specified by the operands, in the
order specified.
For each
dir
operand, the
mkdir
utility shall perform actions equivalent to the
mkdir()
function defined in the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017, called with the following arguments:
- 1.
-
The
dir
operand is used as the
path
argument.
- 2.
-
The value of the bitwise-inclusive OR of S_IRWXU, S_IRWXG, and S_IRWXO
is used as the
mode
argument. (If the
-m
option is specified, the value of the
mkdir()
mode
argument is unspecified, but the directory shall at no time
have permissions less restrictive than the
-m
mode
option-argument.)
OPTIONS
The
mkdir
utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017,
Section 12.2,
Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
- -m mode
-
Set the file permission bits of the newly-created directory to the
specified
mode
value. The
mode
option-argument shall be the same as the
mode
operand defined for the
chmod
utility. In the
symbolic_mode
strings, the
op
characters
'+'
and
'-'
shall be interpreted relative to an assumed initial mode of
a=rwx;
'+'
shall add permissions to the default mode,
'-'
shall delete permissions from the default mode.
- -p
-
Create any missing intermediate pathname components.
-
For each
dir
operand that does not name an existing directory, before performing the
actions described in the DESCRIPTION above, the
mkdir
utility shall create any pathname components of the path prefix of
dir
that do not name an existing directory by performing actions equivalent
to first calling the
mkdir()
function with the following arguments:
- 1.
-
A pathname naming the missing pathname component, ending with a trailing
<slash>
character, as the
path
argument
- 2.
-
The value zero as the
mode
argument
and then calling the
chmod()
function with the following arguments:
- 1.
-
The same
path
argument as in the
mkdir()
call
- 2.
-
The value
(S_IWUSR|S_IXUSR|~filemask)&0777
as the
mode
argument, where
filemask
is the file mode creation mask of the process (see the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017,
umask())
Each
dir
operand that names an existing directory shall be ignored without
error.
OPERANDS
The following operand shall be supported:
- dir
-
A pathname of a directory to be created.
STDIN
Not used.
INPUT FILES
None.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of
mkdir:
- LANG
-
Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are
unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017,
Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables
for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine
the values of locale categories.)
- LC_ALL
-
If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the
other internationalization variables.
- LC_CTYPE
-
Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of
text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to
multi-byte characters in arguments).
- LC_MESSAGES
-
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and
contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
- NLSPATH
-
Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
LC_MESSAGES.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
Default.
STDOUT
Not used.
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
None.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:
- 0
-
All the specified directories were created successfully, or the
-p
option was specified and all the specified directories either already
existed or were created successfully.
- >0
-
An error occurred.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
Default.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
The default file mode for directories is
a=
rwx
(777 on most systems) with selected permissions removed in accordance
with the file mode creation mask. For intermediate pathname components
created by
mkdir,
the mode is the default modified by
u+
wx
so that the subdirectories can always be created regardless of the file
mode creation mask; if different ultimate permissions are desired for
the intermediate directories, they can be changed afterwards with
chmod.
Note that some of the requested directories may have been created even
if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
None.
RATIONALE
The System V
-m
option was included to control the file mode.
The System V
-p
option was included to create any needed intermediate directories and
to complement the functionality provided by
rmdir
for removing directories in the path prefix as they become empty.
Because no error is produced if any path component already exists, the
-p
option is also useful to ensure that a particular directory exists.
The functionality of
mkdir
is described substantially through a reference to the
mkdir()
function in the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017. For example, by default, the mode of the
directory is affected by the file mode creation mask in accordance with
the specified behavior of the
mkdir()
function. In this way, there is less duplication of effort required for
describing details of the directory creation.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
chmod,
rm,
rmdir,
umask
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017,
Chapter 8, Environment Variables,
Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017,
mkdir(),
umask()
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition,
Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
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