- dirname
-
dirname is a standard UNIX computer program. When dirname is given a pathname, it will delete any suffix beginning with the last slash (
'/'
) character and return the result. dirname is described in the Single UNIX Specification and is primarily used in shell scripts.Contents
Usage
The Single UNIX Specification specification for dirname is.
dirname string
- string
- A pathname
Example
$ dirname /usr/home/carpetsmoker/dirname.wiki /usr/home/carpetsmoker
Performance
Since
dirname
accepts only one operand, its usage within the inner loop of shell scripts can be detrimental to performance. Considerwhile read file; do dirname "$file" done < some-input
The above excerpt would cause a separate process invocation for each line of input. For this reason, shell substitution is typically used instead
echo "${file%/*}";
See also
External links
- The Single UNIX® Specification, Issue 7 from The Open Group : return the directory portion of a pathname – Commands & Utilities Reference,
- Linux User Commands Manual : strip nondirectory suffix from filenames –
Unix command-line interface programs and shell builtins (more) File system Processes User environment Text processing Shell builtins Networking Searching Documentation Miscellaneous Categories:- Standard Unix programs
- Unix SUS2008 utilities
- string
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