Lessons · Terminal · making a folder

Making folders

mkdir name makes a folder. mkdir -p a/b/c makes the whole chain at once and stays quiet if it already exists.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

Every project starts with a few folders, and scripts that set up folders must not fail on the second run.

Reach for -p whenever there is a chain to make or the folder might already be there. Then ls to see it.

mkdir -p site/css site/js

Two folders inside a new site folder, parents made as needed.

ls site

css and js.

mkdir -p site/css

Already there: no error, nothing changes.

echo $?

0: it counted as success.

Make the chain build/out/logs in one go.

mkdir  build/out/logs

mkdir a/b/c without -p when a does not exist: 'No such file or directory', because mkdir will not invent the parents on its own.

Practise making a folder on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.