NAME
basename, dirname – return filename or directory portion of pathname
SYNOPSIS
basename string [suffix]
basename [-a] [-s suffix] string [...]
dirname string [...]
DESCRIPTION
The basename utility deletes any prefix ending with the last slash ‘/’ character present in string (after first stripping trailing slashes), and a suffix, if given. The suffix is not stripped if it is identical to the remaining characters in string. The resulting filename is written to the standard output. A non-existent suffix is ignored. If -a is specified, then every argument is treated as a string as if basename were invoked with just one argument. If -s is specified, then the suffix is taken as its argument, and all other arguments are treated as a string.
The dirname utility deletes the filename portion, beginning with the last slash ‘/’ character to the end of string (after first stripping trailing slashes), and writes the result to the standard output.
EXIT STATUS
The basename and dirname utilities exit 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
The following line sets the shell variable FOO to /usr/bin.
FOO=`dirname /usr/bin/trail`
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The basename and dirname utilities are expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.
HISTORY
The basename utility first appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX. The dirname utility first appeared in AT&T System III UNIX.