basename(1)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 con‐
sists 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 suffix of the
characters remaining in string, the suffix is removed from string. is
normally used inside command substitution marks within shell proce‐
dures.
delivers all but the last level of the path name in string. If string
does not contain a directory component, returns indicating the current
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 vari‐
able contains an invalid setting, and behave as if all international‐
ization 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 ALSOexpr(1), sh(1).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCEbasename(1)