mkdir -p functionality in Python
directory-structure, mkdir, path, python
Solution
For Python ≥ 3.5, use `pathlib.Path.mkdir`:
import pathlib
pathlib.Path("/tmp/path/to/desired/directory").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
The `exist_ok` parameter was added in Python 3.5.
For Python ≥ 3.2, `os.makedirs` has an optional third argument `exist_ok` that, when `True`, enables the `mkdir -p` functionality—unless `mode` is provided and the existing directory has different permissions than the intended ones; in that case, `OSError` is raised as previously:
import os
os.makedirs("/tmp/path/to/desired/directory", exist_ok=True)
For even older versions of Python, you can use `os.makedirs` and ignore the error:
import errno
import os
def mkdir_p(path):
try:
os.makedirs(path)
except OSError as exc: # Python ≥ 2.5
if exc.errno == errno.EEXIST and os.path.isdir(path):
pass
# possibly handle other errno cases here, otherwise finally:
else:
raise
Problem
Is there a way to get functionality similar to `mkdir -p` on the shell from within Python. I am looking for a solution other than a system call. I am sure the code is less than 20 lines, and I am wondering if someone has already written it?