1MKDIR(3P) POSIX Programmer's Manual MKDIR(3P)
2
6 This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
7 implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
8 Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9 not be implemented on Linux.
10
12 mkdir - make a directory
13
15 #include <sys/stat.h>
16 int mkdir(const char *path, mode_t mode);
18
21 The mkdir() function shall create a new directory with name path. The
22 file permission bits of the new directory shall be initialized from
23 mode. These file permission bits of the mode argument shall be modified
24 by the process' file creation mask.
25 When bits in mode other than the file permission bits are set, the
27 meaning of these additional bits is implementation-defined.
28 The directory's user ID shall be set to the process' effective user ID.
30 The directory's group ID shall be set to the group ID of the parent
31 directory or to the effective group ID of the process. Implementations
32 shall provide a way to initialize the directory's group ID to the group
33 ID of the parent directory. Implementations may, but need not, provide
34 an implementation-defined way to initialize the directory's group ID to
35 the effective group ID of the calling process.
36 The newly created directory shall be an empty directory.
38 If path names a symbolic link, mkdir() shall fail and set errno to
40 [EEXIST].
41 Upon successful completion, mkdir() shall mark for update the st_atime,
43 st_ctime, and st_mtime fields of the directory. Also, the st_ctime and
44 st_mtime fields of the directory that contains the new entry shall be
45 marked for update.
46
48 Upon successful completion, mkdir() shall return 0. Otherwise, -1 shall
49 be returned, no directory shall be created, and errno shall be set to
50 indicate the error.
51
53 The mkdir() function shall fail if:
54 EACCES Search permission is denied on a component of the path prefix,
56 or write permission is denied on the parent directory of the
57 directory to be created.
58 EEXIST The named file exists.
60 ELOOP A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of
62 the path argument.
63 EMLINK The link count of the parent directory would exceed {LINK_MAX}.
65 ENAMETOOLONG
67 The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname
68 component is longer than {NAME_MAX}.
69 ENOENT A component of the path prefix specified by path does not name
71 an existing directory or path is an empty string.
72 ENOSPC The file system does not contain enough space to hold the con‐
74 tents of the new directory or to extend the parent directory of
75 the new directory.
76 ENOTDIR
78 A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
79 EROFS The parent directory resides on a read-only file system.
81 The mkdir() function may fail if:
84 ELOOP More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during
86 resolution of the path argument.
87 ENAMETOOLONG
89 As a result of encountering a symbolic link in resolution of the
90 path argument, the length of the substituted pathname string
91 exceeded {PATH_MAX}.
92 The following sections are informative.
95
97 Creating a Directory
98 The following example shows how to create a directory named
99 /home/cnd/mod1, with read/write/search permissions for owner and group,
100 and with read/search permissions for others.
101 #include <sys/types.h>
104 #include <sys/stat.h>
105 int status;
108 ...
109 status = mkdir("/home/cnd/mod1", S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IROTH | S_IXOTH);
110
112 None.
113
115 The mkdir() function originated in 4.2 BSD and was added to System V in
116 Release 3.0.
117 4.3 BSD detects [ENAMETOOLONG].
119 The POSIX.1-1990 standard required that the group ID of a newly created
121 directory be set to the group ID of its parent directory or to the
122 effective group ID of the creating process. FIPS 151-2 required that
123 implementations provide a way to have the group ID be set to the group
124 ID of the containing directory, but did not prohibit implementations
125 also supporting a way to set the group ID to the effective group ID of
126 the creating process. Conforming applications should not assume which
127 group ID will be used. If it matters, an application can use chown() to
128 set the group ID after the directory is created, or determine under
129 what conditions the implementation will set the desired group ID.
130
132 None.
133
135 umask(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
136 <sys/stat.h>, <sys/types.h>
137
139 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
140 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
141 -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
142 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
143 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
144 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
145 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
146 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
147 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
148IEEE/The Open Group 2003 MKDIR(3P)