NAME

dirname — report the parent directory name of a file pathname

SYNOPSIS

#include <libgen.h>

char *dirname(char *path);

DESCRIPTION

The dirname() function takes a pointer to a character string that contains a pathname, and returns a pointer to a string that is a pathname of the parent directory of that file. Trailing '/' characters in the path are not counted as part of the path.

If path does not contain a '/', then dirname() returns a pointer to the string "." . If path is a null pointer or points to an empty string, dirname() returns a pointer to the string "." .

This interface need not be reentrant.

RETURN VALUE

The dirname() function returns a pointer to a string that is the parent directory of path . If path is a null pointer or points to an empty string, a pointer to a string "." is returned.

The dirname() function may modify the string pointed to by path, and may return a pointer to static storage that may then be overwritten by subsequent calls to dirname().

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

EXAMPLES

The following code fragment reads a pathname, changes the current working directory to the parent directory, and opens the file. char path[MAXPATHLEN], *pathcopy; int fd; fgets(path, MAXPATHLEN, stdin); pathcopy = strdup(path); chdir(dirname(pathcopy)); fd = open(basename(path), O_RDONLY);

APPLICATION USAGE

The dirname() and basename(3) functions together yield a complete pathname. The expression dirname ( path ) obtains the pathname of the directory where basename ( path ) is found.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

basename(3) , <libgen.h> .