Difference between mkdir and CreateDirectory

Question

Is there a difference between mkdir(<name>) and CreateDirectory(<name>, NULL) under Win32.

As I can see, both are working (in the same way ??)

Answer 1

mkdir (and the recommended _mkdir are runtime library functions. CreateDirectory is specific to Windows. If you want portable code, call _mkdir. If you're fine making your program Windows-specific, or you need the ability to add security descriptors, then call CreateDirectory.

Most likely, the _mkdir implementation for Windows calls CreateDirectory(name, NULL). So both end up doing the same thing.

Edit: The Visual Studio 12 implementation of _mkdir() calls _wmkdir(), which then calls CreateDirectoryW:

int __cdecl _wmkdir (
        const wchar_t *path
        )
{
        ULONG dosretval;

        /* ask OS to create directory */

        if (!CreateDirectoryW(path, (LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES)NULL))
            dosretval = GetLastError();
        else
            dosretval = 0;

        if (dosretval) {
            /* error occured -- map error code and return */
            _dosmaperr(dosretval);
            return -1;
        }

        return 0;
}