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Janak Shrestha
Janak Shrestha

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Creating Nested Directory Structures in Linux: A Guide to Using mkdir -p

#linux

The application development team needs some directories created on one of the app servers in Stratos Datacenter. They will use these directories to store some data. They have shared below requirements with us:

Create some directories as below under /opt directory on App server 2 in Stratos Datacenter.

/opt/app/backup/latest
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Solution

Step 1: Connect to App Server 2 (stapp02) 

ssh steve@stapp02
# Password: Am3ric@
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Step 2: Switch to root 

sudo su -
# Password: Am3ric@
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Step 3: Create the directory structure 

# Create the directory with parent directories
mkdir -p /opt/app/backup/latest
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Step 4: Verify the directory creation 

# Check the directory exists
ls -la /opt/app/backup/latest

# Show the full path
ls -ld /opt/app/backup/latest

# Show the directory tree
ls -la /opt/app/
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One-Line Command 

echo 'Am3ric@' | ssh steve@stapp02 "sudo -S bash -c 'mkdir -p /opt/app/backup/latest && ls -la /opt/app/backup/latest'"
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Expected Output 

[root@stapp02 ~]# mkdir -p /opt/app/backup/latest

[root@stapp02 ~]# ls -la /opt/app/backup/latest
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 19 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 19 10:00 ..

[root@stapp02 ~]# ls -ld /opt/app/backup/latest
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 19 10:00 /opt/app/backup/latest
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Verification Commands 

# Check full directory structure
ls -laR /opt/app/

# Verify each directory exists
test -d /opt/app && echo "✓ /opt/app exists" || echo "✗ /opt/app missing"
test -d /opt/app/backup && echo "✓ /opt/app/backup exists" || echo "✗ /opt/app/backup missing"
test -d /opt/app/backup/latest && echo "✓ /opt/app/backup/latest exists" || echo "✗ /opt/app/backup/latest missing"

# Check ownership and permissions
stat /opt/app/backup/latest
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Summary

  • ✅ Directory created: /opt/app/backup/latest
  • ✅ Parent directories created automatically with -p flag
  • ✅ Ownership: root:root
  • ✅ Permissions: drwxr-xr-x (755)

The required directory structure has been created successfully on App Server 2.

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