basename(1)                                                        basename(1)


NAME
     basename, dirname - deliver portions of pathnames

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.
     The suffix is a pattern as defined on the ed(1) manual page.

     dirname delivers all but the last level of the pathname in string.

EXAMPLES
     The following example, invoked with the argument /home/sms/personal/mail
     sets the environment variable NAME to the filenamed mail and the
     environment variable MYMAILPATH to the string /home/sms/personal.

          NAME=`basename $HOME/personal/mail`
          MYMAILPATH=`dirname $HOME/personal/mail`

     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'`

FILES
     /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxcore
          language-specific message file (See LANG on environ(5).)

SEE ALSO
     ed(1), sh(1).


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