mkdir -p

[genetik]

what does the -p mean/do?

[oldos2er]

man mkdir has the answer: -p, --parents
no error if existing, make parent directories as needed

[SuperSonic4]

means create the parent directories if they don't exist

[nothingspecial]

So if you want to make a directory called wow in a directory blah in a directory blag........

you go

mkdir -p blag/blah/wow

instead of

mkdir blag
mkdir blag/blah
mkdir blag/blah/wow