BASENAME(3P)

PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
basename - return the last component of a pathname

SYNOPSIS

#include <libgen.h>

char *basename(char *path);

DESCRIPTION

The basename() function shall take the pathname pointed to by path and return a pointer to the final component of the pathname, deleting any trailing '/' characters.

If the string consists entirely of the '/' character, basename() shall return a pointer to the string "/" . If the string is exactly "//", it is implementation-defined whether '/' or "//" is returned.

If path is a null pointer or points to an empty string, basename() shall return a pointer to the string "." .

The basename() function may modify the string pointed to by path, and may return a pointer to static storage that may then be overwritten by a subsequent call to basename().

The basename() function need not be reentrant. A function that is not required to be reentrant is not required to be thread-safe.

RETURN VALUE

The basename() function shall return a pointer to the final component of path.

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

  Using basename()

The following program fragment returns a pointer to the value lib, which is the base name of /usr/lib.

    #include <libgen.h>
    ...
    char *name = "/usr/lib";
    char *base;

    base = basename(name);
    ...

  Sample Input and Output Strings for basename()

In the following table, the input string is the value pointed to by path, and the output string is the return value of the basename() function.
Input String | Output String
"/usr/lib" | "lib"
"/usr/" | "usr"
"/" | "/"
"///" | "/"
"//usr//lib//" | "lib"

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

dirname(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <libgen.h>, the Shell and Utilities volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, basename

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .