6.1 Directory and File Management Using the Command Line
6.1.9 Creating directories
The mkdir command is used to create directories or folders. Directories can contain other directories, which are referred to as subdirectories, and they can contain files. This section deals with user created directories, those created by a system administrator or a user. Directories can be created using either an absolute or a relative pathname. You can specify more than one directory name on the same line to create more than one new directory.

You must have the appropriate permissions to create a directory. (Permissions are covered later in the course.) If you change to a directory where you do not have the correct permissions to create a new file or directory, you will receive an error message similar to the one below:

$ mkdir /home/Olympic
mkdir: Failed to make directory "/home/Olympic"; Permission denied

Figure starts with the pwd command to verify you are in your home directory and shows several examples of using the basic mkdir command. Variations of the ls command are used to list the directories created. The last example shows the use of the -p (parent) option which can create parent directories while creating lower level directories. You can create multiple levels of directories including all the directories in a pathname simultaneously. If you use the -p option and specify a directory in the pathname that does not exist, it will be created.

Command Format:
mkdir [-p] directory_name directory_name
Interactive Media Activity (Flash, 95 kB)
  Using mkdir and touch

In this media activity, you are logged in as user2 and your current working directory is: /home/user2/dir4. Refer to the Class File Tree Structure by clicking the 'tree' button located on the Menu Bar and type the commands that would accomplish the requested objectives. 
Note: Be sure to press enter after each one. Click on step 1 to begin.