
If you don’t feel like remembering all the terminal commands or want a fresh way to create and organize folders on your Mac, you can try some alternative tools. Every time you hit the space bar after the first folder name in a 'mkdir' command, Terminal understands it as a new 'mkdir' command. Here's how:Īs you can see, this creates three new folders on the desktop.
#Cant change directory on mac terminal mac
In the above commands, we're telling the Mac to go to the desktop and make a folder named 'test-folder-1.'īut there's one great time-saving trick for Terminal: you can create multiple files with one command. The 'mkdir' command means 'make directory.' In computer-speak, any folder is a directory. If you wanted to access a folder named 'personal' in your 'documents' folder, you would have to 'cd' into documents, then 'cd' into personal. Keep in mind you can't change directory straight into a sub-folder. The term 'cd' means 'change directory.' It's a navigation command you could also 'cd' into documents, downloads, or any other main destination. That's all you have to do! So, a few notes on Terminal commands for creating files and folders.
#Cant change directory on mac terminal how to
Here, we'll go through how to create a folder on the desktop using your Mac's Terminal. You can create a file or folder in Terminal, but a word of caution before you proceed: don't mess with Terminal unless you're really confident in what you're doing.īut when you need to create folders Mac terminal is really powerful. Your Mac's Terminal features is powerful it's essentially root access to your entire machine. Most often used for sub-folders, you can select multiple files and use the mouse or trackpad shortcuts above to create a new folder that has those files in it. From your desktop or in the Finder file system, simply right-click (mouse) or two-finger tap (trackpad) to bring up a menu the first option is 'new folder,' which creates a new empty folder wherever in the system you are.įile selection. Simply go to File > New folder in the Finder menu.


The folder appears wherever you currently are in your Finder file tree. In your Mac's Finder utility, you can make a folder for your Mac. There are three main ways to create a new folder on your Mac:įinder.

Here, we'll show you how to create a folder on your Mac, and discuss some best practices for staying organized and productive on your Mac computer.
