basename and dirname

basename

basename is a command used to get the filename or the leaf directory name from a path given. basically it will select the last string which is prefixed by /.

For example:

>basename /x/y/z/abc.txt
abc.txt

The above command will bring output as abc.txt

>basename /x/y/z/
z

It will bring z as output

Please note , inside a script if we use basename $0 , it will bring the name of the script. It has many uses.

dirname

dirname will bring the path of the directory. ie the prefix for / for a leave directory name or file.

For example:

>dirname /x/y/z/abc.txt
/x/y/z

The above command will bring output as /x/y/z

>dirname /x/y/z/
/x/y

It will bring /x/y as output

Comments

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