basename(1)                                              basename(1)


       NAME
             basename, dirname - deliver 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 substitution
             marks (` `) within shell procedures.  The suffix is a pattern
             as defined on the ed(1) manual page.  Trailing slashes are
             stripped.  Several degenerate cases should be mentioned.
             basename / returns / (a single slash), while basename invoked
             with an empty string, "", or with no string at all, returns .
             (a single dot).

             dirname delivers all but the last level of the path name in
             string.

             The LC_CTYPE environment variable defines the codesets used in
             the pathname [see LANG on environ(5)].

       EXAMPLES
             The following example, invoked with the string
             /home/sms/personal/mail sets the environment variable NAME to
             the file named mail and the environment variable MYMAILPATH to
             the string /home/sms/personal.

                   NAME=`basename $HOME/personal/mail`
                   MYMAILPATH=`dirname $HOME/personal/mail`

             This shell procedure, invoked with the argument
             /usr/src/bin/cat.c, compiles the named file and moves the
             output to cat in the current directory:
                   cc $1
                   mv a.out `basename $1 .c`

          Files
             /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxcore
                   language-specific message file [see LANG on environ(5)].

       REFERENCES
             ed(1), sh(1)



                           Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 1