dirname(3) BSD Library Functions Manual dirname(3)
NAME
dirname -- extract the directory part of a pathname
SYNOPSIS
#include <libgen.h>
char *
dirname(char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The dirname() 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.
If path is a null pointer, the empty string, or contains no `/' charac-
ters, dirname() returns a pointer to the string ".", signifying the cur-
rent directory.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
The dirname() function returns a pointer to internal storage space allo-
cated on the first call that will be overwritten by subsequent calls.
Other vendor implementations of dirname() may modify the contents of the
string passed to dirname(); if portability is desired, this should be
taken into account when writing code which calls this function.
LEGACY SYNOPSIS
#include <libgen.h>
char *
dirname(const char *path);
In legacy mode, path will not be changed.
RETURN VALUES
On successful completion, dirname() returns a pointer to the parent
directory of path.
If dirname() fails, a null pointer is returned and the global variable
errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The following error codes may be set in errno:
[ENAMETOOLONG] The path component to be returned was larger than
MAXPATHLEN.
SEE ALSO
basename(1), dirname(1), basename(3), compat(5)
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.
AUTHORS
Todd C. Miller
BSD October 12, 2006 BSD
Mac OS X 10.8 - Generated Mon Aug 27 16:11:37 CDT 2012