dirname(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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DIRNAME(3)              NetBSD Library Functions Manual             DIRNAME(3)


NAME

     dirname -- report the parent directory name of a file pathname


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <libgen.h>

     char *
     dirname(char *path);


DESCRIPTION

     The dirname() function takes a pointer to a character string that con-
     tains a pathname, path, and returns a pointer to a string that is a path-
     name of the parent directory of path.  Trailing `/' characters in 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 ``.''.


RETURN VALUES

     The dirname() function returns a pointer to a string that is the parent
     directory of path.


SEE ALSO

     dirname(1), basename(3)


STANDARDS

     ·   X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 (``XPG4.2'')
     ·   IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'')


BUGS

     If the length of the result is longer than PATH_MAX bytes (including the
     terminating nul), the result will be truncated.

     The dirname() function returns a pointer to static storage that may be
     overwritten by subsequent calls to dirname().  This is not strictly a
     bug; it is explicitly allowed by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').

NetBSD 5.1                       May 10, 2008                       NetBSD 5.1