How to Create Date‑Named Directories and Files in Linux with One Command

When working on a Linux system you often need log files or other data organized by date; this article shows how to use the date command with mkdir or touch to create directories or files whose names are generated from the current date or time.

Creating a directory named YYYY‑MM‑DD

$ mkdir $(date +"%Y-%m-%d")

or, with explicit quoting: $ mkdir "$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")" After running the command, a directory such as 2023-08-15 is created. To move into it, replace mkdir with cd:

$ cd "$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")"

Creating a file with the current date

$ touch "$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")"

Custom names that include the date

You can prepend or append any string to the date output:

$ mkdir ZhangSan-$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")

$ touch ZhangSan-$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")

Because the %Y-%m-%d format follows the ISO standard, the same result can be obtained with the shorter forms:

$ mkdir $(date -I)

$ mkdir $(date +%F)

Other examples

Only the day: $ mkdir "$(date +%d)" Only the month (numeric): $ mkdir "$(date +%m)" Only the month (full name): $ mkdir "$(date +%B)" Only the year (two‑digit): $ mkdir "$(date +%y)" Only the year (four‑digit): $ mkdir "$(date +%Y)" Current time (12‑hour format with AM/PM): $ mkdir "$(date +%r)" Current seconds: $ mkdir "$(date +%S)" Current minutes: $ mkdir "$(date +%M)" Current weekday name:

$ mkdir "$(date +%A)"

Supported format specifiers for the date command

%a  abbreviated weekday name (Sun, Mon, ...)
%A  full weekday name (Sunday, Monday, ...)
%b  abbreviated month name (Jan, Feb, ...)
%B  full month name (January, February, ...)
%c  date and time (e.g., Sat 29 Oct 2020 05:02:25 PM CST)
%C  century
%d  day of month (01..31)
%D  same as %m/%d/%y
%F  same as %Y-%m-%d (ISO 8601)
%g  last two digits of ISO week-numbering year
%G  ISO week-numbering year (four digits)
%h  same as %b
%H  hour (00..23)
%I  hour (01..12)
%j  day of year (001..366)
%k  hour, space padded ( 0..23)
%l  hour, space padded ( 1..12)
%m  month (01..12)
%M  minute (00..59)
%N  nanoseconds (000000000..999999999)
%p  AM or PM
%P  am or pm
%q  quarter of year (1..4)
%r  12‑hour clock time (e.g., 11:11:04 PM)
%R  24‑hour clock time (HH:MM)
%s  seconds since 1970‑01‑01 00:00:00 UTC
%S  second (00..60)
%t  tab character
%T  time (HH:MM:SS)
%u  day of week (1..7, Monday=1)
%U  week number of year, Sunday as first day (00..53)
%V  ISO week number (Monday as first day, 01..53)
%w  day of week (0..6, Sunday=0)
%W  week number of year, Monday as first day (00..53)
%x  date (e.g., 12/31/99)
%X  time (e.g., 23:13:48)
%y  year (two digits)
%Y  year (four digits)
%z  numeric time zone (+hhmm)
%:z numeric time zone with colon (+hh:mm)
%::z numeric time zone with seconds (+hh:mm:ss)
%:::z numeric time zone with optional minutes/seconds (+hh, +hh:mm, +hh:mm:ss)
%Z  time zone abbreviation (e.g., EDT)

For detailed usage of date, mkdir, and touch, consult their manual pages:

$ man date
$ man mkdir
$ man touch