xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/basename.3 (revision 06c3fb27)
1.\" $OpenBSD: basename.3,v 1.20 2007/05/31 19:19:28 jmc Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Todd C. Miller <Todd.Miller@courtesan.com>
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17.Dd May 22, 2017
18.Dt BASENAME 3
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm basename
22.Nd extract the base portion of a pathname
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.In libgen.h
25.Ft char *
26.Fn basename "char *path"
27.Sh DESCRIPTION
28The
29.Fn basename
30function returns the last component from the pathname pointed to by
31.Fa path ,
32deleting any trailing
33.Sq \&/
34characters.
35.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
36This implementation of
37.Fn basename
38uses the buffer provided by the caller to store the resulting pathname
39component.
40Other vendor implementations may return a pointer to internal storage
41space instead.
42The advantage of the former approach is that it ensures thread-safety,
43while also placing no upper limit on the supported length of the
44pathname.
45.Sh RETURN VALUES
46If
47.Fa path
48consists entirely of
49.Sq \&/
50characters, a pointer to the string
51.Qq \&/
52is returned.
53If
54.Fa path
55is a null pointer or the empty string, a pointer to the string
56.Qq \&.
57is returned.
58Otherwise,
59it returns a pointer to the last component of
60.Fa path .
61.Sh SEE ALSO
62.Xr basename 1 ,
63.Xr dirname 1 ,
64.Xr dirname 3
65.Sh STANDARDS
66The
67.Fn basename
68function conforms to
69.St -xpg4.2 .
70.Sh HISTORY
71The
72.Fn basename
73function first appeared in
74.Ox 2.2
75and
76.Fx 4.2 .
77.Pp
78In
79.Fx 12.0 ,
80this function was reimplemented to store its result in the provided
81input buffer.
82There is no longer any need to use the
83.Fn basename_r
84function.
85.Sh AUTHORS
86.An Nuxi, the Netherlands
87