basename(1)							   User Commands						       basename(1)

NAME

       basename, dirname - deliver portions of path names

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/basename string [suffix]

       /usr/xpg4/bin/basename string [suffix]

       dirname string

DESCRIPTION

       The  basename  utility deletes any prefix ending in / and the suffix (if present in string) from string, and prints the result on the stan-
       dard output. It is normally used inside substitution marks (``) within shell procedures.

   /usr/bin
       The suffix is a pattern defined on the expr(1) manual page.

   /usr/xpg4/bin
       The suffix is a string with no special significance attached to	any of the characters it contains.

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

EXAMPLES

       Example 1 Setting environment variables

       The following example, invoked with the argument /home/sms/personal/mail sets the environment variable NAME to the file named mail and  the
       environment variable MYMAILPATH to the string  /home/sms/personal:

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

       Example 2 Compiling a file and moving the output

       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:

	 example% cc $1
	 example% mv a.out `basename $1 .c`

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect  the execution of basename and  dirname:  LANG,  LC_ALL,
       LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0     Successful completion.

       >0    An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

   /usr/bin
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

   /usr/xpg4/bin
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWxcu4			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       expr(1), basename(3C), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)

SunOS 5.11							    18 Mar 1997 						       basename(1)