BASENAME(1) User Commands BASENAME(1)
NAME
basename, dirname - deliver portions of path names
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/basename string [
suffix]
/usr/xpg4/bin/basename string [
suffix]
dirname stringDESCRIPTION
The
basename utility deletes any prefix ending in
/ and the
suffix (if
present in
string) from
string, and prints the result on the standard
output. It is normally used inside substitution marks (
``) within shell
procedures.
/usr/bin The
suffix is a pattern defined on the
expr(1) manual page.
/usr/xpg4/bin The
suffix is a string with no special significance attached to any of
the characters it contains.
The
dirname utility delivers all but the last level of the path name in
string.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Setting environment variables
The following example, invoked with the argument
/home/sms/personal/mail sets the environment variable
NAME to the file named
mail and the
environment variable
MYMAILPATH to the string
/home/sms/personal:
example%
NAME=`basename $HOME/personal/mail` example%
MYMAILPATH=`dirname $HOME/personal/mail` Example 2: Compiling a file and moving the output
This shell procedure, invoked with the argument
/usr/src/bin/cat.c,
compiles the named file and moves the output to
cat in the current
directory:
example%
cc $1 example%
mv a.out `basename $1 .c`ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See
environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of
basename and
dirname:
LANG,
LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and
NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
SEE ALSO
expr(1),
basename(3C),
attributes(7),
environ(7),
standards(7) March 18, 1997
BASENAME(1)