basename(1)                                           basename(1)



     NAME
          basename, dirname - isolate  substrings  within  a  pathname
          argument

     SYNOPSIS
          basename string [suffix]
          dirname string

     DESCRIPTION
          basename deletes any prefix ending in / and the suffix (if
          present in string) from string, and prints the result on the
          standard output.  It is normally used inside substitution
          marks (` `) within shell procedures.

          dirname delivers all but the last level of the pathname in
          string.

     EXAMPLES
          Invoked with the argument /usr/src/cmd/cat.c,

               cc $1
               mv a.out `basename $1 '.c'`

          compiles the named file and moves the output to a file named
          cat in the current directory.

               NAME=`dirname /usr/src/cmd/cat.c`

          sets the Bourne shell variable NAME to /usr/src/cmd.

     FILES
          /bin/basename
          /bin/dirname

     SEE ALSO
          sh(1).

     BUGS
          The basename of / is null and is considered an error.
















     April, 1990                                                     1