wp_mkdir_p() │ WP 2.0.1

Recursively creates a directory (folder) at the specified path. Does nothing if the folder already exists. Grants parent permissions to new folders.

This is a wrapper for the basic PHP function mkdir().

  • The function cleans the provided path, removing any possible double slashes //.
  • Preserves the protocol, for example file://.
  • Created folders inherit parent permissions.
  • The path cannot contain ../ - in this case, the directory will not be created.

See also: WP_Filesystem_Direct{}.

1 time — 0.0002389 sec (fast) | 50000 times — 0.16 sec (very fast) | PHP 7.3.3, WP 5.2.3

No Hooks.

Returns

true|false. Whether the specified directory was created. true will also be returned if the folder already exists.

Usage

wp_mkdir_p( $target );
$target(string) (required)
Full path to the directory that needs to be created.

Examples

0

#1 Directory Creation Demo

Suppose we need to create a nested directories:

if ( wp_mkdir_p( 'a/really/deep/sub/directory' ) ){
  echo 'Directory created!';
}
0

#2 Creating a directory inside /uploads

This example shows how to create a new folder in the /uploads directory, while activating the plugin.

It can be useful when the plugin has file import functions or the ability to upload files and you want to save all files to a specific folder.

function myplugin_activate() {

	$upload = wp_upload_dir();
	$upload_dir = $upload['basedir'] . '/mypluginfiles';

	if ( ! wp_mkdir_p( $upload_dir ) ){
		echo "Failed to create mypluginfiles directory";
	}
}

register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'myplugin_activate' );

Changelog

Since 2.0.1 Introduced.

wp_mkdir_p() code WP 6.9.1

wp-includes/functions.php 
function wp_mkdir_p( $target ) {
	$wrapper = null;

	// Strip the protocol.
	if ( wp_is_stream( $target ) ) {
		list( $wrapper, $target ) = explode( '://', $target, 2 );
	}

	// From php.net/mkdir user contributed notes.
	$target = str_replace( '//', '/', $target );

	// Put the wrapper back on the target.
	if ( null !== $wrapper ) {
		$target = $wrapper . '://' . $target;
	}

	/*
	 * Safe mode fails with a trailing slash under certain PHP versions.
	 * Use rtrim() instead of untrailingslashit to avoid formatting.php dependency.
	 */
	$target = rtrim( $target, '/' );
	if ( empty( $target ) ) {
		$target = '/';
	}

	if ( file_exists( $target ) ) {
		return @is_dir( $target );
	}

	// Do not allow path traversals.
	if ( str_contains( $target, '../' ) || str_contains( $target, '..' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ) ) {
		return false;
	}

	// We need to find the permissions of the parent folder that exists and inherit that.
	$target_parent = dirname( $target );
	while ( '.' !== $target_parent && ! is_dir( $target_parent ) && dirname( $target_parent ) !== $target_parent ) {
		$target_parent = dirname( $target_parent );
	}

	// Get the permission bits.
	$stat = @stat( $target_parent );
	if ( $stat ) {
		$dir_perms = $stat['mode'] & 0007777;
	} else {
		$dir_perms = 0777;
	}

	if ( @mkdir( $target, $dir_perms, true ) ) {

		/*
		 * If a umask is set that modifies $dir_perms, we'll have to re-set
		 * the $dir_perms correctly with chmod()
		 */
		if ( ( $dir_perms & ~umask() ) !== $dir_perms ) {
			$folder_parts = explode( '/', substr( $target, strlen( $target_parent ) + 1 ) );
			for ( $i = 1, $c = count( $folder_parts ); $i <= $c; $i++ ) {
				chmod( $target_parent . '/' . implode( '/', array_slice( $folder_parts, 0, $i ) ), $dir_perms );
			}
		}

		return true;
	}

	return false;
}

File system (create delete files folders)

PHP Polyfills (analogues PHP functions replacement)

File system (WP_Filesystem)