NAME
dirname —
extract the directory part of a
pathname
SYNOPSIS
#include
<libgen.h>
char *
dirname(char
*path);
DESCRIPTION
Thedirname()
function is the converse of
basename(3); it returns a pointer to the parent directory of the
pathname pointed to by path. Any trailing
‘/’ characters are not counted as part of the directory name.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
This implementation of dirname() uses the
buffer provided by the caller to store the resulting parent directory. Other
vendor implementations may return a pointer to internal storage space
instead. The advantage of the former approach is that it ensures
thread-safety, while also placing no upper limit on the supported length of
the pathname.
RETURN VALUES
If path is a null pointer, the empty string,
or contains no ‘/’ characters,
dirname() returns a pointer to the string
".", signifying the current directory. Otherwise, it returns a
pointer to the parent directory of path.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The dirname() function conforms to
X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2
(“XPG4.2”).
HISTORY
The dirname() function first appeared in
OpenBSD 2.2 and FreeBSD
4.2.
In FreeBSD 12.0, this function was reimplemented to store its result in the provided input buffer.
AUTHORS
Nuxi, the Netherlands