basename(1) [hpux man page]
basename(1) General Commands Manual basename(1) NAME
basename, dirname - extract portions of path names SYNOPSIS
string [suffix] [string] DESCRIPTION
deletes any prefix ending in and the suffix (if present in string) from string, and prints the result on the standard output. If string consists entirely of slash characters, string is set to a single slash character. If there are any trailing slash characters in string, they are removed. If the suffix operand is present but not identical to the characters remaining in string, but it is identical to a suf- fix of the characters remaining in string, the suffix is removed from string. is normally used inside command substitution marks within shell procedures. delivers all but the last level of the path name in string. If string does not contain a directory component, returns indicating the cur- rent working directory. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables determines the interpretation of string and, in the case of basename, suffix as single and/or multi-byte characters. If is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty vari- able. If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, and behave as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5). International Code Set Support Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported. EXAMPLES
The following shell script, invoked with the argument compiles the named file and moves the output to a file named in the current direc- tory: The following example sets the shell variable to RETURN VALUE
and return one of the following values: Successful completion. Incorrect number of command-line arguments. SEE ALSO
expr(1), sh(1). STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
basename(1)
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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)