mkdir -p Command Reference for CI Scripts

mkdir -p creates a directory and any missing parents, without erroring if it already exists.

mkdir -p is the idempotent way to ensure a path exists. It is the right default in CI because re-running a step should not fail just because the directory is already there.

Common flags/usage

• -p / --parents: create parent directories as needed, no error if present
• -m MODE: set the permission mode on creation
• -v: print a message for each created directory
• mkdir -p a/b/c: creates the whole chain in one call

Example

mkdir -p "${HOME}/.cache/pip" "${HOME}/.local/bin"
mkdir -p -m 700 "${HOME}/.ssh"
artifacts="dist/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}" ; mkdir -p "${artifacts}"

In CI

Plain mkdir errors with "File exists" on a re-run and fails the step under set -e; mkdir -p is idempotent and creates intermediate parents in one call. Use -m to set the mode atomically (e.g. 700 on ~/.ssh) rather than a separate chmod, which avoids a brief window of loose permissions.

Key takeaways

• mkdir -p is idempotent and will not fail if the directory already exists.
• It creates all missing parent directories in a single call.
• -m sets the mode at creation time, avoiding a separate chmod step.

Related guides