Hacker News Reader

Comment by ladybanshee | Hacker News Reader

Could you explain the purpose of mkcd?

It’s a shortcut

Its purpose is to combine mkdir -p and cd into a single atomic-like action. Instead of typing: mkdir -p my_project && cd my_project

You simply run: mkcd my_project

It's designed to reduce friction during development, especially when you're frequently creating new nested directory structures.

Not the author, but my first guess is to create a folder and cd into it with just one command instead of 2 with the said argument, isn't it ?

Exactly. It's a small quality-of-life feature to avoid the repetitive mkdir && cd sequence. In GRSH, it also ensures the directory is created with the necessary permissions before the shell attempts to switch into it.

I love the concept, very good yet simple idea ! I'll steal it for my aliases.

Go ahead and 'steal' away! That’s the beauty of open source.

I actually built it into the shell precisely because I was tired of managing those aliases across different machines. Glad you found it useful!

Is it not possible to realize it with alias?

Great question! While you could technically hack a similar behavior using a shell function (not a simple alias, as aliases don't handle positional arguments well), grsh implements mkcd as a native builtin. By baking it into the shell in Rust, I can ensure atomic execution and better error handling without relying on the user's specific .bashrc or .zshrc hacks. It's about providing a 'batteries-included' experience where common workflows are first-class citizens of the shell itself.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com