MKDIR(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual MKDIR(1P)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.
NAMEmkdir — make directories
SYNOPSISmkdir [−p] [−m mode] dir...
DESCRIPTION
The mkdir utility shall create the directories specified by the oper‐
ands, in the order specified.
For each dir operand, the mkdir utility shall perform actions equiva‐
lent 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 speci‐
fied, 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 util‐
ity. 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 direc‐
tory, before performing the actions described in the DESCRIP‐
TION above, the mkdir utility shall create any pathname com‐
ponents of the path prefix of dir that do not name an exist‐
ing directory by performing actions equivalent to first call‐
ing 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 vari‐
ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions vol‐
ume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
ables 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 cre‐
ation 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 differ‐
ent 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 refer‐
ence 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 speci‐
fied 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 Electri‐
cal 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 .
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IEEE/The Open Group 2013 MKDIR(1P)
