Batch- Does MKDIR skip over a folder if it already exists and move onto the next one?

Question

I am trying to create a Batch file that creates a series of folders in an already-existing directory. If part of the directory already exists, will MKDIR skip over that one and continue down the directory or will it overwrite it?

A sample code is here:

mkdir %cdriveletter%\Steam\SteamApps\common\Counter-Strike Source\cstrike\custom\my_custom_skins\

In that code I want to only create the MyCustomSkins folder but it has to be in that directory. I do not want it to overwrite the stuff before it.

Will this suffice?

unclemeat unclemeat · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-07T02:09:15

The mkdir command will create any folders that do not exist in the specified path, unless extensions are disabled (setLocal enableExtensions) - regardless, it will not destroy a directory and create a new one with the same name.

See mkdir /? -

...

MKDIR creates any intermediate directories in the path, if needed.
For example, assume \a does not exist then:

    mkdir \a\b\c\d

is the same as:

    mkdir \a
    chdir \a
    mkdir b
    chdir b
    mkdir c
    chdir c
    mkdir d

which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.

You should probably also surround your path with quotation marks.

Note: You could test that yourself, by creating some 'test' directories, and writing a similar command.

Batch- Does MKDIR skip over a folder if it already exists and move onto the next one?

1 Answers