What tool is used to create a new filesystem on a partition?

The correct tool used to create a new filesystem on a partition is mkfs. This command stands for "make filesystem" and is widely utilized in Linux for initializing a storage device or partition with a specific filesystem type. When you run mkfs, you typically specify the partition and the desired filesystem format (such as ext4, xfs, etc.), allowing the system to prepare that partition for storage and use effectively.

The other options, while related to filesystem management, do not serve this specific purpose. For example, newfs is primarily found in BSD systems and is used to create file systems but is not standard across all Linux distributions. Parted is a tool for partition management, allowing users to create, delete, or resize partitions but does not create filesystems directly. mkdirfs is not a standard command in Linux and does not exist as a filesystem creation tool. This makes mkfs the appropriate and correct choice for creating a new filesystem on a specified partition.