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basename(1)
NAME
  basename, dirname - Returns the base file name or directory portion of a
  path name

SYNOPSIS
  basename string [suffix]

  dirname string

STANDARDS
  Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards
  as follows:

  basename: XCU5.0

  dirname:  XCU5.0

  Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
  industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS
  None

OPERANDS
  string
      A string to be evaluated.	 This string may be empty.

  [suffix]
      A file name suffix to be deleted if found.  This operand applies to the
      basename command only, and is optional.

DESCRIPTION
  The basename command reads the string specified on the command line,
  deletes the portion from the beginning to the last / (slash), and writes
  the base file name to standard output.  If suffix is specified on the
  command line and suffix appears in string, the string is returned with the
  suffix removed.

  The dirname command reads the string specified on the command line, deletes
  from the last / (slash) to the end of the line, and writes the remaining
  path name to standard output.

  [Tru64 UNIX]	The basename and dirname commands are generally used inside
  command substitutions within a shell procedure to specify an output file
  name that is some variation of a specified input file name.  For more
  information, see the csh(1), ksh(1), and sh(1b) or sh(1p) reference pages.

  The following table demonstrates the processing applied to characters with
  particular meanings by the basename and dirname commands.

  _____________________________
	     basename	dirname
  string     Result	Result
  _____________________________
  /	     /		/
  //	     /		/
  /a/b	     b		/a
  //a//b//   b		//a
  <null>     err msg	err msg
  a	     a		.
  ""			.
  /a	     a		/
  /a/b	     b		/a
  a/b	     b		a
  _____________________________

NOTES
  It is not an error if suffix is not a part of string.

EXAMPLES
   1.  To display the base file name of a shell variable, enter:
	    basename $WORKFILE

       This displays the base file name of the value assigned to the WORKFILE
       shell variable.	If WORKFILE is set to /u/gabe/program.c, then
       program.c is displayed.

   2.  To construct, in a shell script, a file name that is the same as
       another file name, except for its suffix, enter the following command,
       using grave accents:
	    OFILE=`basename $1 .c`.o

       This assigns to OFILE the value of the first positional parameter
       ($1), but with its .c suffix changed to .o.  If $1 is
       /u/jim/program.c, then OFILE becomes program.o.	Because program.o is
       only a base file name, it identifies a file in the current directory.

       The grave accents perform command substitution.

   3.  To construct the name of a file located in the same directory as
       another, enter the following command, using grave accents:
	    AOUTFILE=`dirname $TEXTFILE`/a.out

       This sets the AOUTFILE shell variable to the name of an a.out file
       that is in the same directory as TEXTFILE.  If TEXTFILE is
       /u/fran/prog.c, then the value of dirname $TEXTFILE is /u/fran and
       AOUTFILE becomes /u/fran/a.out.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
  The following environment variables affect the execution of basename and
  dirname:

  LANG
      Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that
      are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value
      from the default locale is used.	If any of the internationalization
      variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of
      the variables had been defined.

  LC_ALL
      If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the
      other internationalization variables.

  LC_CTYPE
      Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of
      text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to
      multibyte characters in arguments).

  LC_MESSAGES
      Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic
      messages written to standard error.

  NLSPATH
      Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of
      LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO
  Commands:  csh(1), ksh(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)

  Standards:  standards(5)

Index for Section 1

Alphabetical listing for B

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