NAME

basename, dirname − display portions of pathnames and filenames

SYNOPSIS

basename string [ suffix ]
dirname string

AVAILABILITY

The dirname command is available with the System V software installation option.  Refer to Installing SunOS 4.1 for information on how to install optional software. 

DESCRIPTION

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

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

EXAMPLES

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`

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

NAME=‘dirname /usr/src/cmd/cat.c‘

SEE ALSO

sh(1)

Sun Release 4.1  —  Last change: 17 September 1989