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.1‐2008, 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 .