DIRNAME(3)             FreeBSD Library Functions Manual             DIRNAME(3)

NAME
     dirname - extract the directory part of a pathname

SYNOPSIS
     #include <libgen.h>

     char *
     dirname(char *path);

DESCRIPTION
     The dirname() function is the converse of basename(3); it returns a
     pointer to the parent directory of the pathname pointed to by path.  Any
     trailing `/' characters are not counted as part of the directory name.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
     This implementation of dirname() uses the buffer provided by the caller
     to store the resulting parent directory.  Other vendor implementations
     may return a pointer to internal storage space instead.  The advantage of
     the former approach is that it ensures thread-safety, while also placing
     no upper limit on the supported length of the pathname.

RETURN VALUES
     If path is a null pointer, the empty string, or contains no `/'
     characters, dirname() returns a pointer to the string ".", signifying the
     current directory.  Otherwise, it returns a pointer to the parent
     directory of path.

SEE ALSO
     basename(1), dirname(1), basename(3)

STANDARDS
     The dirname() function conforms to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4,
     Version 2 ("XPG4.2").

HISTORY
     The dirname() function first appeared in OpenBSD 2.2 and FreeBSD 4.2.

     In FreeBSD 12.0, this function was reimplemented to store its result in
     the provided input buffer.

AUTHORS
     Nuxi, the Netherlands

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6        September 5, 2016       FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6