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. It directs the result to the standard output, and is normally used inside substitution marks (` `) within shell procedures. 

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

EXAMPLES

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:

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)

Sun Release 3.2  —  Last change: 13 March 1986