basename(1)						      General Commands Manual						       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

       A string to be evaluated.  This string may be empty.  A file name suffix to be deleted if found.  This operand applies to the basename com-
       mand 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 out-
       put 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

       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.  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 suffix changed to $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.  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: 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 inter-
       nationalization variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.	If set to  a  non-
       empty  string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.  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).   Determines  the
       locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.  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)

																       basename(1)