BASENAME(1) MachTen Reference Manual BASENAME(1)

NAME
basename, dirname - return filename or directory portion of pathname

SYNOPSIS
basename string [suffix]
dirname string

DESCRIPTION
Basename deletes any prefix ending with the last slash ‘/’ character pre-
sent in string, and a suffix, if given. The resulting filename is writ-
ten to the standard output. If string ends in the slash character, ‘/’,
or is the same as the suffix argument, a newline is output. A non-
existent suffix is ignored.

Dirname deletes the filename portion, beginning with the last slash ‘/’
character to the end of string, and writes the result to the standard
output.

EXAMPLES
The following line sets the shell variable FOO to /usr/bin.

FOO=‘dirname /usr/bin/trail‘

Both the basename and dirname exit 0 on success, and >0 if an error oc-
curs.

SEE ALSO
csh(1) sh(1)

STANDARDS
The basename and dirname functions are expected to be POSIX 1003.2 com-
patible.

4.4BSD April 18, 1994 1