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DIRNAME(3) FreeBSD Library Functions Manual DIRNAME(3) NAME dirname - report the parent directory name of a file pathname LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc, -lc) SYNOPSIS #include <libgen.h> char * dirname(char *path); DESCRIPTION The dirname() function takes a pointer to a character string that contains a pathname, path, and returns a pointer to a string that is a pathname of the parent directory of path. Trailing `/' characters in 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. SEE ALSO dirname(1), basename(3) STANDARDS o X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 ("XPG4.2") o IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1") BUGS If the length of the result is longer than PATH_MAX bytes (including the terminating nul), the result will be truncated. The dirname() function returns a pointer to static storage that may be overwritten by subsequent calls to dirname(). This is not strictly a bug; it is explicitly allowed by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1"). FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 May 10, 2008 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8