[colug-432] mkdir

[Rick Hornsby]

> On May 12, 2015, at 09:23, Steve VanSlyck <s.vanslyck at postpro.net> wrote:
> 
> Anyone know what's going on with this? I din't use no stinking option ‘a'

You did, but didn’t realize it.

In UNIX, most of the time single letter options start with a single dash, and multi-letter (word) options start with two dashes.  Most of the time a single dash followed by multiple letters is interpreted as if you put a dash (separate option) before each letter.  mkdir thinks you mean

mkdir -p -a -r -e -n -t -s ...

That’s where it is getting the invalid option ‘a’ from.

Use one of these two:
* mkdir -pv
* mkdir --parents —verbose     (notice two dashes in front of each option)

While I will sometimes use the long names for options to make it more readable, mkdir -p is well understood and very readable.  For many commands -v means verbose so the shorter version would be fine - but it is your personal choice.


>  
> me in /home/me > mkdir -parents -verbose /home/newuser/.ssh
> mkdir: invalid option -- 'a'
> Try 'mkdir --help' for more information.
> me in /home/me >
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