1.\" $NetBSD: dirname.3,v 1.9 2002/10/17 08:41:38 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1997, 2002 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 and Jason R. Thorpe. 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 October 16, 2002 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 57.Sq / 58characters in 59.Ar path 60are not counted as part of the path. 61.Pp 62If 63.Ar path 64does not contain a 65.Sq / , 66then 67.Fn dirname 68returns a pointer to the string 69.Dq \&. . 70.Pp 71If 72.Ar path 73is a null pointer or points to an empty string, 74.Fn dirname 75returns a pointer to the string 76.Dq \&. . 77.Sh RETURN VALUES 78The 79.Fn dirname 80function returns a pointer to a string that is the parent directory of 81.Ar path . 82.Sh SEE ALSO 83.Xr basename 3 84.Sh STANDARDS 85.Bl -bullet -compact 86.It 87.St -xpg4.2 88.It 89.St -p1003.1-2001 90.El 91.Sh BUGS 92If the length of the result is longer than 93.Dv PATH_MAX 94bytes 95.Pq including the terminating nul , 96the result will be truncated. 97.Pp 98The 99.Fn dirname 100function returns a pointer to static storage that may be overwritten 101by subsequent calls to 102.Fn dirname . 103This is not strictly a bug; it is explicitly allowed by 104.St -p1003.1-2001 . 105