Help Center/ Object Storage Service/ User Guide/ Object Management/ Managing Folders/ Creating a Folder
Updated on 2024-10-24 GMT+08:00
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Creating a Folder

Scenarios

You can create a folder in a bucket to facilitate classification and management of data stored in OBS.

Unlike a file system, OBS does not involve the concepts of file and folder. For easy data management, OBS provides a method to simulate folders. On OBS Console or OBS Browser+, an object is simulated as a folder by adding a slash (/) to the end of the object name. When objects are listed by calling the API, the obtained object name is the path of the object, and the content following the last slash (/) is the actual object name. If the path ends with a slash (/), it indicates that the object is a folder. The hierarchical depth of the object does not affect the performance of accessing the object.

Ways to Create a Folder

You can use OBS Console, APIs, SDKs, OBS Browser+, or obsutil to create a folder.

Using OBS Console

  1. In the navigation pane of OBS Console, choose Object Storage.
  2. In the bucket list, click the bucket you want to operate. The Objects page is displayed.
  3. Click Create Folder, or click a folder in the object list to open it and click Create Folder.
  4. In the Folder Name text box, enter a name for the folder.

    • You can create single-level or multi-level folders.
    • The name cannot contain the following special characters: \:*?"<>|
    • The name cannot start or end with a period (.) or slash (/).
    • The folder's absolute path cannot exceed 1,023 characters.
    • Any single slash (/) separates and creates multiple levels of folders at once.
    • The name cannot contain two or more consecutive slashes (/).

  5. Click OK.

Using the API

To create a folder in OBS is to create an object whose size is 0 and whose name ends with a slash (/), in essential. For details, see Using APIs.

Using SDKs

To create a folder in OBS is to create an object whose size is 0 and whose name ends with a slash (/), in essential. For details, see Using SDKs.

Using the GUI Tool - OBS Browser+

  1. Log in to OBS Browser+.
  2. Click the bucket where you want to create a folder and click Create Folder.
  3. In the displayed dialog box, enter a folder name and click OK, as shown in Figure 1.

    Figure 1 Creating a folder
    • A folder name cannot contain the following special characters: \ : * ? ' < > |
    • A folder name cannot start or end with a period (.) or slash (/).
    • A folder name cannot exceed 1,023 bytes. The length of a folder name is the sum of the length of its own and the length of its upper-level directories. The total length cannot exceed 1,023 bytes. Directories of different levels are automatically separated by slashes (/). For example, if the upper-level directory of folder01 is folder02, the name length of folder folder01 is the length of folder02/folder01/.
    • A single slash (/) separates and creates multiple levels of folders.

    If an access deny message is displayed when you are creating a folder, possible causes are as follows:

    • Access to the bucket is restricted by an ACL. For example, you do not have the write permission for the bucket.
    • Access to the bucket is restricted by a bucket policy. For example, you do not have the write permission for the bucket, or write operations cannot be performed on the bucket during the current period.

    If such message is displayed, check ACL and policy settings of the bucket and resolve the problem accordingly.

  4. Click OK.

Using the CLI Tool - obsutil

Command Line Structure

  • In Windows
    • Creating a folder in a specified bucket 
      obsutil mkdir obs://bucket/folder[/subfolder1/subfolder2] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]
    • Creating a folder in the local file system 
      obsutil mkdir folder_url [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]
  • In Linux or macOS
    • Creating a folder in a specified bucket 
      ./obsutil mkdir obs://bucket/folder[/subfolder1/subfolder2] [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]
    • Creating a folder in the local file system 
      ./obsutil mkdir folder_url [-config=xxx] [-e=xxx] [-i=xxx] [-k=xxx] [-t=xxx]

Examples

  • Take the Windows OS as an example. Run the obsutil mkdir obs://bucket-test/folder1/folder2 command to create a folder in a bucket. 
    obsutil mkdir obs://bucket-test/folder1/folder2

The bucket [bucket-test] does not support POSIX, create folder(s) step by step
Create folder [obs://bucket-test/folder1/] successfully, request id [0000016979E1D23C860BB3D8E4577C5E]
Create folder [obs://bucket-test/folder1/folder2] successfully, request id [0000016979E1D2B2860BB5181229C72C]

Parameter Description

Parameter

Optional or Mandatory

Description

bucket

Mandatory when creating a folder in a specified bucket

Bucket name

folder

Mandatory when creating a folder in a specified bucket

Folder path in the bucket. This value can contain multi-level folders. Separate each level with a slash (/).

folder_url

Mandatory when creating a folder in the local file system

Folder path in the local file system. The value can be an absolute path or a relative path.

config

Optional (additional parameter)

User-defined configuration file for executing the current command. To learn the parameters that can be configured in this file, see Configuration Parameters.

e

Optional (additional parameter)

Specifies the endpoint.

i

Optional (additional parameter)

Specifies the user's AK.

k

Optional (additional parameter)

Specifies the user's SK.

t

Optional (additional parameter)

Specifies the user's security token.

Follow-up Procedure

You can click Copy Path on the right to copy the path of the folder and share it with others. Then they can open the bucket where the folder is stored and enter the path in the search box above the object list to find the folder.

Parent Topic: Managing Folders