import os
from pathlib import Path

keepcharacters = (' ', '/', '.', '_')

def create_directory(name):
    filename = "".join([c for c in name if c.isalnum() or c in keepcharacters]).rstrip()
    Path(filename).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    
def create_directories(outdir, paths):
    for path in paths:
        fullpath = f"{outdir}/{path}" if outdir is not None else path
        create_directory(fullpath)