BASENAME(1) BASENAME(1) NAME basename, dirname - strip filename affixes SYNOPSIS basename string [ suffix ] dirname string DESCRIPTION These functions split off useful parts of a pathname; they are typically used inside substitution marks ` ` in shell scripts. Basename deletes any prefix ending in `/' and the suffix, if present in string, from string, and prints the result on the standard output. Dirname places on standard output the name of the directory in which a file named string would nominally be found. The calculation is syntactic and independent of the contents of the file system. EXAMPLES cc $1 -o `basename $1 .c` Compile into `file', where `$1' is `file.c' or `dir/file.c'. cc $1 -o `dirname $1`/`basename $1 .c` Compile `dir/file.c' into `dir/file'. SEE ALSO sh(1)