File and Path Function

char *basename(const char *filename);

char *basename(char *path);

char *dirname(char *path);

Internationalization (I18n) Function Overview

The GNU (const char*) version of the basename function returns the last component of the path in filename. This function is the preferred usage if available, since it does not modify the argument, filename, and respects trailing slashes.

The standard (char*) version of the basename function is similar in spirit to the GNU version, but may modify the path by removing trailing '/' characters. If the path is made up entirely of '/' characters, then "/" will be returned. Also, if path is NULL or an empty string, then "." is returned.

The dirname function is the compliment to the XPG version of basename. It returns the parent directory of the file specified by path. If path is NULL, an empty string, or contains no '/' characters, then "." is returned.

I18n Issues

On ANSI UTF-16 platforms, use a conversion function to convert the wide-character string to a multibyte-character string and then call basename or dirname.

See Pathnames for a discussion of path and filename considerations in an internationalized application.

Recommended Replacements*

ANSI UTF-8	basename or dirname
ANSI UTF-16	convert and call basename or dirname

File and Path Functions