NAME

basename, dirname − deliver portions of path names

SYNOPSIS

basename string [ suffix ]
dirname string

DESCRIPTION

basename 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. 

Dirname delivers all but the last level of the path name in string.

EXAMPLES

The following example, invoked with the argument /usr/src/cmd/cat.c, compiles the named file and moves the output to a file named cat in the current directory:

cc $1
mv a.out `basename $1 ´\.c´`

The following example will set the shell variable NAME to /usr/src/cmd:

NAME=`dirname /usr/src/cmd/cat.c`

SEE ALSO

sh(1). 

September 02, 1992