How to create an empty folder on Google Storage with Google API?

Question

How to create an empty folder on Google Storage with Google API? (Assume that / is path separator.)

Answer 1

Google Cloud Storage does not have folders or subdirectories. However, there is some support for emulating them. gsutil's How Subdirectories Work is a good read for some background.

Google Cloud Storage objects are a flat namespace, but many tools, including gsutil and the Google Cloud Storage UI, create an illusion of a hierarchical file tree.

There are two widely used conventions for creating the illusion of an empty subdirectory:

1. (recommended) Create an object that ends in a trailing slash. For example, to create a subdirectory called foo at the root of a bucket, you would create an empty object (size 0) called foo/.

2. (legacy) Create an object with _$folder$ appended to the name. For example, to create a subdirectory called foo at the root of a bucket, you would create an empty object (size 0) called foo_$folder$.

Note that most tools and utilities are using method 1 now. Method 2 is less frequently used.