BASH redirect create folder

echo "something" | install -D /dev/stdin $f

try

mkdir -p `dirname $f` && echo "something" > $f

The other answers here are using the external command dirname. This can be done without calling an external utility.

mkdir -p "${f%/*}"

You can also check if the directory already exists, but this not really required with mkdir -p:

mydir="${f%/*}"
[[ -d $mydir ]] || mkdir -p "$mydir"