1.\" $NetBSD: dirname.3,v 1.7 2002/02/07 07:00:11 ross Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1997 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. 4.\" All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation 7.\" by Klaus Klein. 8.\" 9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 11.\" are met: 12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 15.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 16.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 17.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 18.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 19.\" This product includes software developed by the NetBSD 20.\" Foundation, Inc. and its contributors. 21.\" 4. Neither the name of The NetBSD Foundation nor the names of its 22.\" contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived 23.\" from this software without specific prior written permission. 24.\" 25.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS 26.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED 27.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 28.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS 29.\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR 30.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF 31.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS 32.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN 33.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) 34.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE 35.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 36.\" 37.Dd November 2, 1997 38.Dt DIRNAME 3 39.Os 40.Sh NAME 41.Nm dirname 42.Nd report the parent directory name of a file pathname 43.Sh LIBRARY 44.Lb libc 45.Sh SYNOPSIS 46.Fd #include \*[Lt]libgen.h\*[Gt] 47.Ft char * 48.Fn dirname "char *path" 49.Sh DESCRIPTION 50The 51.Fn dirname 52function takes a pointer to a character string that contains a pathname, 53.Ar path , 54and returns a pointer to a string that is a pathname of the parent directory of 55.Ar path . 56Trailing '/' characters in 57.Ar path 58are not counted as part of the path. 59.Pp 60If 61.Ar path 62does not contain a '/', then 63.Fn dirname 64returns a pointer to the string ".". 65.Pp 66If 67.Ar path 68is a null pointer or points to an empty string, 69.Fn dirname 70returns a pointer to the string ".". 71.Sh RETURN VALUES 72The 73.Fn dirname 74function returns a pointer to a string that is the parent directory of 75.Ar path . 76.Sh SEE ALSO 77.Xr basename 3 78.Sh STANDARDS 79.Bl -bullet -compact 80.It 81.St -xpg4.2 82.El 83.Sh BUGS 84The 85.Fn dirname 86function may modify the string pointed to by 87.Ar path . 88