NAME

basename, dirname − extract portions of path names

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 command substitution marks (`...`) within shell procedures. 

Dirname delivers all but the last level of the path name in string. If string does not contain a directory component, dirname returns ".", indicating the current working directory. 

EXAMPLES

The following shell script, invoked with the argument /usr/src/cmd/cat.c, compiles the named file and moves the output to a file named cat in the current directory:

cc $1
mv a.out ‘basename $1 .c‘

The following example will set the shell variable NAME to /usr/src/cmd:

NAME=‘dirname /usr/src/cmd/cat.c‘

RETURNS

Both commands return 0 for success.  Both commands return 1 when given no arguments. 

SEE ALSO

expr(1), sh(1). 

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

8-bit filenames. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  Version B.1,  May 11, 2021