MKDIR(1)                   POSIX Programmer's Manual                  MKDIR(1)



PROLOG
       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The OS
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
       OS manual page for details of OS behavior), or the interface may not be
       implemented on OS.


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.1-2008, 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.1-2008, 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.1-2008, 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.1-2008, 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 now exist.

       >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.1-2008. 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.1-2008, Chapter _8, Environment
       Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines

       The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2008, mkdir(), umask()

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  (This is
       POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) 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.unix.org/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
       files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                  2013                             MKDIR(1)
