diff --git a/cli/descriptors/org.jnode.command.file.xml b/cli/descriptors/org.jnode.command.file.xml
index ab2c369520..8e89bd9cf5 100644
--- a/cli/descriptors/org.jnode.command.file.xml
+++ b/cli/descriptors/org.jnode.command.file.xml
@@ -335,7 +335,12 @@
       </sequence>
     </syntax>
     <syntax alias="mkdir">
-      <argument argLabel="directory" description="create a new directory"/>
+      <sequence description="create a new directory">
+        <optionSet>
+          <option argLabel="parents" shortName="p" longName="parents"/>
+        </optionSet>
+        <argument argLabel="directory" description="create a new directory"/>
+      </sequence>
     </syntax>
     <syntax alias="paste">
       <empty />
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/org/jnode/command/file/MkdirCommand.java b/cli/src/commands/org/jnode/command/file/MkdirCommand.java
index 1bd385f266..5ee73b9428 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/org/jnode/command/file/MkdirCommand.java
+++ b/cli/src/commands/org/jnode/command/file/MkdirCommand.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.jnode.shell.AbstractCommand;
 import org.jnode.shell.syntax.Argument;
 import org.jnode.shell.syntax.FileArgument;
+import org.jnode.shell.syntax.FlagArgument;
 
 /**
  * @author Guillaume BINET (gbin@users.sourceforge.net)
@@ -34,16 +35,19 @@
 public class MkdirCommand extends AbstractCommand {
 
     private static final String help_dir = "the directory to create";
+    private static final String help_parents = "if set, create parent directories as needed";
     private static final String help_super = "Create a new directory";
     private static final String fmt_exists = "%s already exists%n";
     private static final String err_cant_create = "Cannot create directory";
     
     private final FileArgument argDir;
+    private final FlagArgument argParents;
 
     public MkdirCommand() {
         super(help_super);
-        argDir = new FileArgument("directory", Argument.MANDATORY | Argument.NONEXISTENT, help_dir);
-        registerArguments(argDir);
+        argDir = new FileArgument("directory", Argument.MANDATORY, help_dir);
+        argParents = new FlagArgument("parents", Argument.OPTIONAL, help_parents);
+        registerArguments(argDir, argParents);
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
@@ -53,13 +57,20 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     public void execute() {
         File dir = argDir.getValue();
         PrintWriter err = getError().getPrintWriter();
-        if (dir.exists()) {
-            err.format(fmt_exists, dir);
-            exit(1);
-        }
-        if (!dir.mkdir()) {
-            err.println(err_cant_create);
-            exit(1);
+        if (argParents.isSet()) {
+            if (!dir.mkdirs()) {
+                err.println(err_cant_create);
+                exit(1);
+            }
+        } else {
+            if (dir.exists()) {
+                err.format(fmt_exists, dir);
+                exit(1);
+            }
+            if (!dir.mkdir()) {
+                err.println(err_cant_create);
+                exit(1);
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/all-file-tests.xml b/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/all-file-tests.xml
index 467061020f..88d2c4f569 100644
--- a/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/all-file-tests.xml
+++ b/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/all-file-tests.xml
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@
     <include setName="tail-command-tests.xml"/>
     <include setName="tee-command-tests.xml"/>
     <include setName="wc-command-tests.xml"/>
+    <include setName="mkdir-command-tests.xml"/>
 </testSet>
diff --git a/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/mkdir-command-tests.xml b/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/mkdir-command-tests.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..18fa1b27b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/test/org/jnode/test/command/file/mkdir-command-tests.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<testSet title="mkdir command tests">
+    <plugin id="org.jnode.command.file"/>
+    <plugin id="org.jnode.shell.bjorne" class="org.jnode.test.shell.bjorne.BjornePseudoPlugin"/>
+    <testSpec title="single-directory" command="mkdir" runMode="AS_ALIAS" rc="0">
+        <arg>@TEMP_DIR@/newdir</arg>
+    </testSpec>
+    <testSpec title="nested-with-parents" command="mkdir" runMode="AS_ALIAS" rc="0">
+        <arg>-p</arg>
+        <arg>@TEMP_DIR@/a/b/c</arg>
+    </testSpec>
+    <testSpec title="nested-with-parents-long" command="mkdir" runMode="AS_ALIAS" rc="0">
+        <arg>--parents</arg>
+        <arg>@TEMP_DIR@/x/y/z</arg>
+    </testSpec>
+    <testSpec title="existing-with-parents" command="mkdir" runMode="AS_ALIAS" rc="0">
+        <arg>-p</arg>
+        <arg>@TEMP_DIR@/newdir</arg>
+    </testSpec>
+    <testSpec title="nested-without-parents-fails" command="mkdir" runMode="AS_ALIAS" rc="1">
+        <arg>@TEMP_DIR@/d/e/f</arg>
+    </testSpec>
+</testSet>