basename(1) BSD General Commands Manual basename(1)

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.

EXAMPLES

 The following line sets the shell variable FOO to /usr/bin.
 FOO=`dirname /usr/bin/trail`

DIAGNOSTICS

 The basename and dirname utilities exit 0 on success, and >0 if an error
 occurs.

SEE ALSO

 csh(1) , sh(1) 

STANDARDS

 The basename and dirname utilities are expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2
 (``POSIX.2'') compatible.
BSD April 18, 1994 BSD