basename(1)              USER COMMANDS                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.

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

EXAMPLES
     The   following   example,   invoked   with   the   argument
     /home/sms/personal/mail  sets  the environment variable NAME
     to the file named mail and the environment variable  MYMAIL-
     PATH 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`

SEE ALSO
     ed(1), sh(1).






















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