Is it possible to create a dir in Node like "mkdir -p" does?

Question

Is it possible to use the fs API to create a directory and all necessary subdirectories like the -p parameter does when using the mkdir command?

This is an answer which I wrote to another similar question https://stackoverflow.com/a/44410793/2834139 — Arvin, Jun 07 '17 at 11:20
Possible duplicate of [How to create full path with node's fs.mkdirSync?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31645738/how-to-create-full-path-with-nodes-fs-mkdirsync) — acdcjunior, Jun 24 '19 at 03:46

score 51 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 05 '23 at 19:17

51

Use fs.mkdirSync with the recursive: true option:

fs.mkdirSync('/tmp/a/apple', { recursive: true });

edited Jun 05 '23 at 19:17

Boris Verkhovskiy

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answered Nov 19 '19 at 12:05

Dániel Mari

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Note that this API is available since v10.12.0. This answer is cleaner than the accepted answer because it does not require installing dependencies. – cadesalaberry Feb 21 '21 at 18:19
Beware, I just wasted hours with weird issues where the node process froze so badly I could not kill it nor restart WSL, and had to reboot. This is NOT safe! – Killroy Oct 06 '22 at 08:59
@Killroy Sounds like you have a really weird setup, because it's been part of Node for years now. Maybe file a bug with the Node folks instead? But it's almost certainly something else interfering. – Mike 'Pomax' Kamermans Feb 21 '23 at 18:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '16 at 10:29

2

You can either write your own version or use a module like mkdirp

answered Jun 02 '16 at 10:29

simon-p-r

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Note that ever since Node added `recursive: true` to the built-in `mkdir` function, this answer is no longer the right answer. – Mike 'Pomax' Kamermans Feb 21 '23 at 18:04

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 08 '19 at 09:28

1

You can also use a NPM package called fs-extra that conveniently allows you to do this:

const fs = require("fs-extra");

async function createFolder(folder) {
  try {
    await fs.ensureDirSync(folder); // guarantees the directory is created, or error.
  } catch (err) {
    throw new Error('You do not have the right permissions to make this folder.');
  }
}

answered Jan 08 '19 at 09:28

Bilawal Hameed

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There is no reason to import fs-extra if you just need mkdirp. Node's own `mkdir` has had this functionality built in for years (and definitely at the time of this answer) in the form of the `recursive` option. – Mike 'Pomax' Kamermans Feb 21 '23 at 18:05

Is it possible to create a dir in Node like "mkdir -p" does?

3 Answers3