4.3.1.7. Creating and removing directories from the command line

To create a directory from the command line, use the mkdir command:

$ mkdir newdirectory

This will create newdirectory in the current working directory. You could also specify the directory name using an absolute or relative-to-home pathname.

To create a chain of directories, or a directory when one or more of the parent directories might not exist, use the -p (path) option:

$ mkdir -p foo/bar/baz/qux

This has the side effect of turning off any warning messages if the directory already exists.

To delete a directory that is empty, use rmdir :

$ rmdir newdirectory

This will fail if the directory is not empty. To delete a directory as well as all of the directories and files within that directory, use the rm (remove) command with the -r (recursive) option:

$ rm -r newdirectory