mkdir -p functionality in Python

In Python >=3.2, that's

os.makedirs(path, exist_ok=True)

In earlier versions, use @tzot's answer.

For Python ≥ 3.5, use pathlib.Path.mkdir:

import pathlib
pathlib.Path("/tmp/path/to/desired/directory").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

The exist_ok parameter was added in Python 3.5.

---

For Python ≥ 3.2, os.makedirs has an optional third argument exist_ok that, when True, enables the mkdir -p functionality—unless mode is provided and the existing directory has different permissions than the intended ones; in that case, OSError is raised as previously:

import os
os.makedirs("/tmp/path/to/desired/directory", exist_ok=True)

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For even older versions of Python, you can use os.makedirs and ignore the error:

import errno    
import os

def mkdir_p(path):
    try:
        os.makedirs(path)
    except OSError as exc:  # Python ≥ 2.5
        if exc.errno == errno.EEXIST and os.path.isdir(path):
            pass
        # possibly handle other errno cases here, otherwise finally:
        else:
            raise