mkdir / rmdir / touch
| Since: | All Linux | |
|---|---|---|
| macOS(2001 Cheetah) | ||
| Bash 1.0(1989) |
mkdir creates directories, rmdir removes empty directories, and touch creates files or updates their timestamps. These commands are commonly used when setting up files and directories.
Syntax
mkdir [options] directory rmdir [options] directory touch [options] file
Options
| Command / Option | Description |
|---|---|
| mkdir directory | Creates a directory. |
| mkdir -p path | Creates the directory and all intermediate parent directories. Does not return an error if the directory already exists. |
| mkdir -m mode directory | Sets the permission mode when creating the directory (e.g., mkdir -m 755 dir). |
| rmdir directory | Removes an empty directory. Returns an error if the directory contains files. |
| rmdir -p path | Removes empty directories recursively along the specified path. |
| touch file | Creates an empty file if it does not exist. If it already exists, updates its last-modified timestamp to the current time. |
| touch -t datetime file | Sets the timestamp to a specified date and time (format: [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.ss]). |
| touch -a file | Updates only the access time. |
| touch -m file | Updates only the modification time. |
Sample Code
The following examples use this directory structure.
Create a directory.
mkdir project ls empty_dir project
Create multiple directories at once.
mkdir src tests docs ls docs empty_dir project src tests
Create a nested directory structure in one step. With -p, any missing intermediate directories are created automatically.
mkdir -p project/src/components ls project/src/ components
Create empty files.
touch index.html style.css script.js ls docs empty_dir index.html project script.js src style.css tests
Remove an empty directory. Returns an error if the directory is not empty.
rmdir empty_dir rmdir project rmdir: failed to remove 'project': Directory not empty
A common pattern in scripts: mkdir -p is safe to use as an idempotent operation because it does not fail if the directory already exists.
mkdir -p /var/log/myapp touch /var/log/myapp/app.log
Common Mistakes
Common Mistake 1: mkdir fails when an intermediate directory does not exist
Without -p, mkdir can only create one directory level at a time. It fails if any parent directory does not exist.
mkdir /tmp/new/deep/path mkdir: cannot create directory '/tmp/new/deep/path': No such file or directory
Use -p to create all necessary intermediate directories.
mkdir -p /tmp/new/deep/path
Common Mistake 2: rmdir fails when the directory contains files
rmdir only removes empty directories. Trying to remove a non-empty directory causes an error.
rmdir /tmp/myproject rmdir: failed to remove '/tmp/myproject': Directory not empty
Use rm -r to remove a directory and all its contents.
rm -r /tmp/myproject
Notes
mkdir -p is commonly used in scripts to ensure a directory exists before writing to it. Because it does not fail when the directory already exists, it works safely as an idempotent operation. To remove a directory that contains files, use rm -r instead of rmdir.
touch is primarily used for two purposes: creating empty placeholder files, and updating a file's timestamp to signal changes to build systems.
If you find any errors or copyright issues, please contact us.
シェアする