mkdir Command in Linux: Create Directories Fast

mkdir — make directory — creates new folders. It looks trivial until the day you need a five-level tree in one command, at which point the -p flag becomes your favourite keystroke.

Create one or many #

Create directories

$ mkdir photos
$ mkdir 2025 2026 archive

The second line creates all three names in one pass — mkdir accepts any number of arguments.

Nested trees with -p #

Without flags, mkdir fails if any parent on the path is missing. With -p it creates every missing level in one shot — and stays silent if the target already exists, which makes it safe in scripts:

Create a nested tree in one command

$ mkdir -p projects/aospix/{src,docs,tests}
$ find projects -type d
projects
projects/aospix
projects/aospix/src
projects/aospix/docs
projects/aospix/tests

The brace expansion {src,docs,tests} is shell trickery, not mkdir's, but the pair together is the fastest way to scaffold a layout. The example uses find to prove the result.

Permissions at creation #

-m sets the mode while creating, instead of creating and then running chmod afterwards:

Create a private directory

$ mkdir -m 700 secrets
$ ls -ld secrets
drwx------ 2 ana ana 4096 Oct 21 09:00 secrets

Good to know #

Command	Result
`mkdir photos`	Fails if `photos` already exists
`mkdir -p photos`	Succeeds silently if `photos` exists
`mkdir -p a/b/c`	Creates any missing parents
`mkdir -m 755 shared`	Creates with specific permissions

A tidy tree makes every other command easier: cp and mv both behave better when the destination exists. The full terminal notes series builds a working toolkit one command at a time.