DIRNAME(3G-SVR4)    RISC/os Reference Manual     DIRNAME(3G-SVR4)



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);

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 sometimes places a null byte
     in the path name after the next to last element, so the con-
     tent of path must be disposable.  Trailing slashes (/) 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_string___Output_pointer
          /usr/lib       /usr
          /usr/          /
          usr            .
          /              /
          .              .
          ..             .


     The following code reads a path name, changes directory to
     the appropriate directory [see chdir(2)], and opens the
     file.

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





                        Printed 11/19/92                   Page 1

DIRNAME(3G-SVR4)    RISC/os Reference Manual     DIRNAME(3G-SVR4)



SEE ALSO
     chdir(2), basename(3G).
     basename(1) in the User's Reference Manual.




















































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