BASENAME(1)               BSD General Commands Manual              BASENAME(1)

NAME
     basename, dirname -- return filename or directory portion of pathname

SYNOPSIS
     basename string [suffix]
     basename [-a] [-s suffix] string [...]
     dirname string

DESCRIPTION
     The basename utility deletes any prefix ending with the last slash `/'
     character present in string (after first stripping trailing slashes), and
     a suffix, if given.  The suffix is not stripped if it is identical to the
     remaining characters in string.  The resulting filename is written to the
     standard output.  A non-existent suffix is ignored.  If -a is specified,
     then every argument is treated as a string as if basename were invoked
     with just one argument.  If -s is specified, then the suffix is taken as
     its argument, and all other arguments are treated as a string.

     The dirname utility deletes the filename portion, beginning with the last
     slash `/' character to the end of string (after first stripping trailing
     slashes), and writes the result to the standard output.

EXAMPLES
     The following line sets the shell variable FOO to /usr/bin.

           FOO=`dirname /usr/bin/trail`

DIAGNOSTICS
     The basename and dirname utilities exit 0 on success, and >0 if an error
     occurs.

SEE ALSO
     csh(1), sh(1)

STANDARDS
     The basename and dirname utilities are expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2
     (``POSIX.2'') compatible.

BSD                             April 18, 1994                             BSD