1basename(1) User Commands basename(1)
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6 basename, dirname - deliver portions of path names
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9 /usr/bin/basename string [suffix]
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12 /usr/xpg4/bin/basename string [suffix]
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15 dirname string
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19 The basename utility deletes any prefix ending in / and the suffix (if
20 present in string) from string, and prints the result on the standard
21 output. It is normally used inside substitution marks (``) within shell
22 procedures.
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24 /usr/bin
25 The suffix is a pattern defined on the expr(1) manual page.
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27 /usr/xpg4/bin
28 The suffix is a string with no special significance attached to any of
29 the characters it contains.
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32 The dirname utility delivers all but the last level of the path name in
33 string.
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36 Example 1 Setting environment variables
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39 The following example, invoked with the argument /home/sms/per‐
40 sonal/mail sets the environment variable NAME to the file named mail
41 and the environment variable MYMAILPATH to the string /home/sms/per‐
42 sonal:
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45 example% NAME=`basename $HOME/personal/mail`
46 example% MYMAILPATH=`dirname $HOME/personal/mail`
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50 Example 2 Compiling a file and moving the output
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53 This shell procedure, invoked with the argument /usr/src/bin/cat.c,
54 compiles the named file and moves the output to cat in the current
55 directory:
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58 example% cc $1
59 example% mv a.out `basename $1 .c`
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64 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
65 that affect the execution of basename and dirname: LANG, LC_ALL,
66 LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
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69 The following exit values are returned:
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71 0 Successful completion.
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74 >0 An error occurred.
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78 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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80 /usr/bin
81 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
82 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
83 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
84 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
85 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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87 /usr/xpg4/bin
88 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
89 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
90 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
91 │Availability │SUNWxcu4 │
92 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
93 │Interface Stability │Standard │
94 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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97 expr(1), basename(3C), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
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101SunOS 5.11 18 Mar 1997 basename(1)