NAME
dirname – extract the directory part of a pathname
SYNOPSIS
#include <libgen.h>
char *
dirname(char *path);
char *
dirname_r(const char *path, char *dname);
DESCRIPTION
The dirname() function is the converse of basename(3); it returns a pointer to the parent directory of the pathname pointed to by path. Any trailing ‘/’ characters are not counted as part of the directory name.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
The dirname() function returns a pointer to internal storage space allocated on the first call that will be overwritten by subsequent calls. dirname_r() is therefore preferred for threaded applications.
Other vendor implementations of dirname() may modify the contents of the string passed to dirname(); if portability is desired, this should be taken into account when writing code which calls this function.
RETURN VALUES
If path is a null pointer, the empty string, or contains no ‘/’ characters, dirname() returns a pointer to the string ".", signifying the current directory. Otherwise, it returns a pointer to the parent directory of path.
If dirname() fails, a null pointer is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The following error codes may be set in errno:
- [ENAMETOOLONG]
-
The path component to be returned was larger than MAXPATHLEN.
- [ENOMEM]
-
The static buffer used for storing the path in dirname() could not be allocated.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The dirname() function conforms to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 (“XPG4.2”).
HISTORY
The dirname() function first appeared in OpenBSD 2.2 and FreeBSD 4.2.
The dirname_r() function first appeared in OS X 10.12.
AUTHORS
Nuxi, the Netherlands