basename(3C)

NAME

basename(), dirname() — extract components of a path name

SYNOPSIS

#include <libgen.h>

char *basename(char *path);

char *dirname(char *path);

DESCRIPTION

basename() takes the path name pointed to by path and returns a pointer to the final component of the path name, deleting any trailing '/' characters. If the string consists entirely of '/' characters, basename() returns a pointer to the string "/". If path is a null pointer or points to the empty string, basename() returns a pointer to the string ".".

dirname() takes the path name pointed to by path and returns a pointer to a string that is a path name of the parent directory of that file. If path is a null pointer, points to the empty string, or does not contain a '/' character, then dirname() returns a pointer to the string ".".

RETURN VALUE

basename() returns a pointer to the final component of path.

dirname() returns a pointer to a string that is the parent directory of path.

EXAMPLES

The following code fragment calls basename() and dirname().

#include <libgen.h> 
  
const char *path="/usr/local/bin/foo"; 
char *base, *dir; 
char *dup0, *dup1; 
char *dup2, *dup3; 

/*Use strdup in case literals 
* are in text, or basename() 
* and dirname() modify the 
* input string. 
*/ 

dup0=strdup(path); 
dup1=strdup(path); 

base=basename(dup0); 
dir=dirname(dup1); 

/* Use strdup before modifying 
* return string in case a 
* pointer to a literal is 
* returned. 
*/ 

dup2=strdup(base); 
dup3=strdup(dir); 

WARNINGS

basename() and dirname() may overwrite path.

basename() and dirname() in non-threaded applications currently use a static buffer in each function to hold the result string. Any subsequent calls to basename() and dirname() may overwrite the static buffer. At some release after HP-UX 11i Version 1, HP may use malloc() to allocate the buffers. Once allocated, those buffers will be reused and their addresses will not change; however, if the malloc() fails, basename() and dirname() would return "." and errno would be set to ENOMEM.

AUTHOR

basename() and dirname() were developed by HP.

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

basename(): XPG4.2
dirname(): XPG4.2

basename(3C)

Technical documentation

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