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mkdir(1)

NAME

mkdir - Makes a directory

SYNOPSIS

mkdir [-m mode] [-p] directory...

STANDARDS

Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows: mkdir: XCU5.0 Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

-m mode Sets the file permissions to mode, a symbolic mode string as defined for chmod, after creating the specified directory. The mode argument can be either an absolute mode string or a symbolic mode string as defined for chmod. See the chmod(1) reference page. In symbolic mode strings, the operation characters + and - are interpreted relative to an assumed initial mode of a=rwx, A + adds permissions to the default mode, whereas a - deletes permissions from the default mode. -p Creates intermediate directories as necessary; otherwise, the full path name prefix to directory must already exist. The user must have mkdir write permission in the parent directory. Each component of directory that does not name an existing directory is created with mode 777, modified by the current file mode creation mask (umask). The equivalent of chmod u+wx is performed on each component to ensure that mkdir can create lower directories regardless of the setting of umask. Each component of directory that names an existing directory is ignored without error. If an intermediate path name component exists, but permissions are set to prevent writing or searching, mkdir fails and returns an error message. The mode argument does not apply to any intermediate directories created when the -p option is specified.

OPERANDS

directory The path name of the directory to be created.

DESCRIPTION

The mkdir command creates new directories with read, write, and execute permissions based upon the permissions established by the umask setting. [Tru64 UNIX] The mkdir command also creates the standard entries . (dot) for the directory itself and .. (dot dot) for its parent.

NOTES

1. Some of the requested directories may be created although an error occurs subsequent to the directory creation. 2. If the directory specified by the -p option already exists, the command does not return an error status, in compliance with POSIX.2. 3. [Tru64 UNIX] To make a new directory, you must have write permission in the parent directory.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned: 0 All requested directories were created, or the -p option was used and all of the requested directories now exist. >0 An error occurred.

EXAMPLES

1. To create a new directory called test, enter: mkdir test 2. To set file permissions for new directory test in absolute mode, enter: mkdir -m 444 test 3. To set file permissions for new directory test in symbolic mode, enter: mkdir -m+rw test

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables affect the execution of mkdir: LANG Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used. If any of the internationalization variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined. LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables. LC_CTYPE Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments). LC_MESSAGES Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. NLSPATH Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO

Commands: chmod(1), rm(1), rmdir(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p), umask(1) Functions: mkdir(2) Standards: standards(5)

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