mkdir – Make Directories

The mkdir command is used to create one or more directories in a specified location.

Syntax

mkdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY...

• You can specify one or multiple directory names.
• If no path is given, directories are created in the current working directory.

Options

Practical Examples

1. Create a single directory

mkdir myfolder

Creates a directory named myfolder in the current directory.

2. Create multiple directories at once

mkdir folder1 folder2 folder3

Creates three directories named folder1, folder2, and folder3.

3. Create a directory and any necessary parent directories

mkdir -p projects/2025/october

Creates the whole path projects/2025/october, creating projects and 2025 if they do not exist.

4. Create directories with specific permissions

mkdir -m 700 secure_folder

Creates secure_folder with permissions set to rwx------ (only accessible by owner).

5. Verbose output when creating directories

mkdir -v newfolder

Output:

mkdir: created directory 'newfolder'

6. Attempt to create a directory that already exists (without -p)

mkdir existing_folder

If existing_folder exists, this will result in an error like:

mkdir: cannot create directory ‘existing_folder’: File exists

Tips

• Use mkdir -p to avoid errors when creating nested directories.
• Combine with variables, for example:

mkdir -p ~/projects/{2023,2024,2025}

Creates three directories 2023, 2024, and 2025 inside ~/projects.

• Directory permissions are affected by the current umask unless overridden by -m.

See Also

• rmdir – remove empty directories
• rm -r – remove directories recursively
• chmod – change permissions of directories and files
• ls -ld – list directory permissions and details

Summary

mkdir is a simple yet powerful tool to create directories, especially when combined with the -p option to build entire directory trees in one go.