mkdir()

Create a subdirectory

Synopsis:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>

int mkdir( const char *path,
           mode_t mode );

Library:

libc

Description:

The mkdir() function creates a new subdirectory named path. The path can be relative to the current working directory or it can be an absolute path name.

The new directory is created with file permissions matching mode, modified by the process's file creation mask (see umask()). The access permissions for the file or directory are specified as a combination of bits defined in the <sys/stat.h> header file.

The directory's owner ID is set to the process's effective user ID. The directory's group ID is set to the group ID of the parent directory (if the parent set-group ID bit is set) or to the process's effective group ID.

The newly created directory is empty.

The mkdir() function marks the st_atime, st_ctime, and st_mtime fields of the directory for update. Also, the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the parent directory are also updated.

Returns:

0, or -1 if an error occurs (errno is set).

Errors:

EACCES

Search permission is denied for a component of path, or write permission is denied on the parent directory of path.

EEXIST

The directory named by path already exists.

ELOOP

Too many levels of symbolic links.

EMLINK

The link count of the parent directory would exceed LINK_MAX.

ENAMETOOLONG

The length of path exceeds PATH_MAX, or a pathname component is longer than NAME_MAX.

ENOENT

A pathname component in the specified path does not exist, or path is an empty string.

ENOSPC

The filesystem does not contain enough space to hold the contents of the new directory or to extend the parent directory.

ENOSYS

This function is not supported for this path.

ENOTDIR

A component of path is not a directory.

EROFS

The parent directory resides on a read-only filesystem.

Examples:

To make a new directory called /src in /hd:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main( void )
{
    (void)mkdir( "/hd/src",
                 S_IRWXU |
                 S_IRGRP | S_IXGRP |
                 S_IROTH | S_IXOTH );

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Classification:

POSIX 1003.1

See also:

chdir(), chmod(), errno, getcwd(), mknod(), rmdir(), stat(), umask()