dirname(3G)

NAME

dirname − report the parent directory name of a file path name

SYNOPSIS

cc [ flag ... ] file ... −lgen [ library ... ]

#include <libgen.h>

char ∗dirname(char ∗path);

MT-LEVEL

Unsafe

DESCRIPTION

Given a pointer to a null-terminated character string that contains a file system path name, dirname() returns a pointer to a static constant string that is the parent directory of that file. In doing this, it may place a null byte in the path name after the next to last element, so the content of path must be disposable. Trailing “/” characters in the path are not counted as part of the path.

If path or ∗path is zero, a pointer to a static constant “.” is returned.

dirname() and basename() together yield a complete path name. dirname (path) is the directory where basename (path) is found.

EXAMPLES

A simple file name and the strings “.” and “..” all have “.” as their return value.

Input stringOutput pointer
/usr/lib/usr
/usr//
usr.
//
..
...

The following code reads a path name, changes directory to the parent directory of the named file (see chdir(2)), and opens the file.

char path[100], ∗pathcopy;
int fd;
gets (path);
pathcopy = strdup (path);
chdir (dirname (pathcopy) );
free (pathcopy);
fd = open (basename (path), O_RDONLY);

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