Basename: Difference between revisions

basename
Initial release	January 1979; 46 years ago
Written in	C
Operating system	Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	coreutils: GPLv3+; Plan 9: MIT License

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Latest revision as of 16:29, 3 September 2024

basename is a standard computer program on Unix and Unix-like operating systems. When basename is given a pathname, it will delete any prefix up to the last slash ('/') character and return the result. basename is described in the Single UNIX Specification and is primarily used in shell scripts.

History

basename was introduced in X/Open Portability Guidelines issue 2 of 1987. It was inherited into the first version of POSIX and the Single Unix Specification.^[1] It first appeared in 4.4BSD.^[2]

The version of basename bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie.^[3]

The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the GnuWin32 project^[4] and the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.^[5]

Usage

The Single UNIX Specification for basename is.

basename string [suffix]

string

A pathname

suffix

If specified, basename will also delete the suffix.

Examples

basename will retrieve the last name from a pathname ignoring any trailing slashes

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki 
base.wiki

$ basename /home/jsmith/
jsmith

$ basename /
/

basename can also be used to remove the end of the base name, but not the complete base name

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki .wiki
base

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki ki
base.wi

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki base.wiki
base.wiki

References

^ basename – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group
^ basename(1) – FreeBSD General Commands Manual
^ basename(1) – Linux User Manual – User Commands
^ CoreUtils for Windows
^ Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities

External links

basename: return non-directory portion of a pathname – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group
basename(1) – Plan 9 Programmer's Manual, Volume 1
basename(1) – Inferno General commands Manual
basename(1) – Linux User Commands Manual
basename(1) – OpenBSD General Commands Manual

[1] basename – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group

[2] basename(1) – FreeBSD General Commands Manual

[3] basename(1) – Linux User Manual – User Commands

[4] CoreUtils for Windows

[5] Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Unix string manipulation utility}}
 {{lowercase}}
+{{Infobox software
-{{no footnotes|date=March 2013}}
+| name                   = basename
-'''<tt>basename</tt>''' is a standard [[UNIX]] [[computer program]]. When <tt>basename</tt> is given a [[pathname]], it will delete any prefix up to the last slash (<code>'/'</code>) character and return the result. <tt>basename</tt> is described in the [[Single UNIX Specification]] and is primarily used in [[shell script]]s.
+| logo                   =
+| screenshot             =
+| screenshot size        =
+| caption                =
+| developer              =
+| released               = {{Start date and age|1979|1}}
+| latest release version =
+| latest release date    =
+| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
+| operating system       = [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]], [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9]], [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno]]
+| platform               = [[Cross-platform]]
+| genre                  = [[Command (computing)|Command]]
+| license                = [[coreutils]]: [[GPLv3+]]<br />Plan 9: [[MIT License]]
+| website                =
+}}
+'''<kbd>basename</kbd>''' is a standard [[computer program]] on [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s. When <kbd>basename</kbd> is given a [[pathname]], it will delete any prefix up to the last slash (<code>'/'</code>) character and return the result. <kbd>basename</kbd> is described in the [[Single UNIX Specification]] and is primarily used in [[shell script]]s.
+==History==
+{{code|basename}} was introduced in [[X/Open]] Portability Guidelines issue 2 of 1987. It was inherited into the first version of POSIX and the [[Single Unix Specification]].<ref>{{man|cu|basename|SUS}}</ref> It first appeared in 4.4BSD.<ref>{{man|1|basename|FreeBSD}}</ref>
+The version of <code>basename</code> bundled in [[GNU]] [[coreutils]] was written by David MacKenzie.<ref>{{man|1|basename|Linux}}</ref>
+The command is available as a separate package for [[Microsoft Windows]] as part of the [[GnuWin32]] project<ref>[http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm CoreUtils for Windows]</ref> and the [[UnxUtils]] collection of [[Native (computing)|native]] [[Windows API|Win32]] [[porting|ports]] of common [[GNU]] Unix-like utilities.<ref>[http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities]</ref>
 ==Usage==
-The [[Single UNIX Specification]] specification for <tt>basename</tt> is.
+The [[Single UNIX Specification]] for <kbd>basename</kbd> is.
  basename string [suffix]
-:<tt>string</tt>
+:<kbd>string</kbd>
 ::A [[pathname]]
-:<tt>suffix</tt>
+:<kbd>suffix</kbd>
-::If specified, <tt>basename</tt> will also delete the suffix.
+::If specified, <kbd>basename</kbd> will also delete the suffix.
+==Examples==
+basename will retrieve the last name from a pathname ignoring any trailing slashes
+<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki
+base.wiki
+$ basename /home/jsmith/
-==Example==
+jsmith
- $ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki
- base.wiki
- $ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki .wiki
+$ basename /
+/
- base
+</syntaxhighlight>
+basename can also be used to remove the end of the base name, but not the complete base name
+<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki .wiki
+base
- $ basename /home/jsmith/
+$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki ki
+base.wi
- jsmith
+$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki base.wiki
-==Performance==
+base.wiki
+</syntaxhighlight>
+==See also==
-Since <tt>basename</tt> accepts only one operand, its usage within the [[inner loop]] of shell scripts can be detrimental to performance. Consider
+* [[List of Unix commands]]
-<source lang="bash">
+* [[dirname]]
- while read file; do
+* [[Path (computing)]]
-   basename "$file" ;
- done < ''some-input''
-</source>
-The above excerpt would cause a separate process invocation for each line of input. For this reason, shell substitution is typically used instead <!-- invoking an extra program like sed is avoided this way -->
-<source lang="bash">
- echo "${file##*/}";
-</source>
-== See also ==
+==References==
+{{Reflist}}
-* [[List of Unix utilities]]
-* <code>[[dirname]]</code>
-* [[Path_(computing)|Path]]
-== External links ==
+==External links==
+{{Wikibooks|Guide to Unix|Commands}}
 *{{man|cu|basename|SUS|return non-directory portion of a pathname}}
-*{{man|1|basename||strip directory and suffix from filenames}}
+*{{man|1|basename|Plan 9}}
+*{{man|1|basename|Inferno}}
+*{{man|1|basename|die.net}}
+*{{man|1|basename|OpenBSD}}
-{{unix commands}}
+{{Unix commands}}
+{{Plan 9 commands}}
+{{Core Utilities commands}}
 [[Category:Standard Unix programs|Basename]]
 [[Category:Unix SUS2008 utilities]]
+[[Category:Plan 9 commands]]
+[[Category:Inferno (operating system) commands]]
+[[Category:IBM i Qshell commands]]

v t e Unix command-line interface programs and shell builtins
File system	cat chattr chmod chown chgrp cksum cmp cp dd du df file fuser ln ls mkdir mv pax pwd rm rmdir split tee touch type umask
Processes	at bg crontab fg kill nice ps time
User environment	env exit logname mesg talk tput uname who write
Text processing	awk basename comm csplit cut diff dirname ed ex fold head iconv join m4 more nl paste patch printf read sed sort strings tail tr troff uniq vi wc xargs
Shell builtins	alias cd echo test unset wait
Searching	find grep
Documentation	man
Software development	ar ctags lex make nm strip yacc
Miscellaneous	bc cal expr lp od sleep true and false
Categories Standard Unix programs Unix SUS2008 utilities List

v t e Plan 9 command-line interface programs and shell builtins
File system	chmod chgrp cmp cp dd du file gzip ls mkdir pwd rm split tee touch
Processes	kill ps
User environment	passwd who
Text processing	awk basename comm diff ed eqn join sed sort spell strings tail tr troff uniq wc
Shell builtins	echo test
Networking	ip/ipconfig ip/ping netstat
Searching	grep
Software development	ar hoc lex nm strip yacc
Miscellaneous	bc cal fortune sleep
Category

v t e GNU Core Utilities command-line interface programs
File system	chcon chmod chown chgrp cksum cp dd df dir dircolors install ln ls mkdir mkfifo mknod mktemp mv realpath rm rmdir shred sync touch truncate vdir
Text utilities	b2sum base32 base64 cat cksum comm csplit cut expand fmt fold head join md5sum nl numfmt od paste ptx pr sha1sum shuf sort split sum tac tail tr tsort unexpand uniq wc
Shell utilities	arch basename chroot date dirname du echo env expr factor false groups hostid id link logname nice nohup nproc pathchk pinky printenv printf pwd readlink runcon seq sleep stat stdbuf stty tee test timeout true tty uname unlink uptime users who whoami yes