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DIRNAME(3C)							   DIRNAME(3C)

NAME
       dirname - report the parent directory name of a file path name

SYNOPSIS
       #include <libgen.h>

       char *dirname(char *path);

DESCRIPTION
       The  dirname() function takes a pointer to a character string that con‐
       tains a pathname, and returns a pointer to a string that is a  pathname
       of  the	parent directory of that file.	Trailing '/' characters in the
       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.  If	 path  is a null pointer or points to an empty
       string, a pointer to a string "." is returned.

ERRORS
       No errors are defined.

EXAMPLES
       Example 1 Changing the Current Directory to the Parent Directory.

       The following code fragment reads a pathname, changes the current work‐
       ing directory to the parent directory of the named file (see chdir(2)),
       and opens the file.

	 char path[[MAXPATHLEN], *pathcopy;
	 int fd;
	 fgets(path, MAXPATHLEN, stdin);
	 pathcopy = strdup(path);
	 chdir(dirname(pathcopy));
	 fd = open(basename(path), O_RDONLY);

       Example 2 Sample Input and Output Strings for dirname().

       In the following table, the input string is the	value  pointed	to  by
       path,  and the output string is the return value of the dirname() func‐
       tion.

       ┌─────────────┬───────────────┐
       │Input String │ Output String │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │"/usr/lib""  │ "/usr"	     │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │"/usr/"	     │ "/"	     │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │"usr"	     │ "/"	     │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │"/"	     │ "/"	     │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │"."	     │ "."	     │
       ├─────────────┼───────────────┤
       │".."	     │ "."	     │
       └─────────────┴───────────────┘

USAGE
       The dirname() function modifies the string pointed to by path.

       The dirname() and basename(3C)  functions  together  yield  a  complete
       pathname.   The	expression  dirname(path)  obtains the pathname of the
       directory where basename(path) is found.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       ┌────────────────────┬─────────────────┐
       │  ATTRIBUTE TYPE    │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
       │Interface Stability │ Standard	      │
       ├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
       │MT-Level	    │ MT-Safe	      │
       └────────────────────┴─────────────────┘

SEE ALSO
       basename(1), chdir(2), basename(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)

				 Mar 18, 2002			   DIRNAME(3C)
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