dirname - Strip Last Component from File Name

Synopsis

dirname [OPTION] NAME...

Output each NAME with its last non-slash component and trailing slashes removed. If NAME contains no slashes, output '.'.

Flags

Examples

# Extract directory from path
dirname /path/to/file.txt
# Output: /path/to

# Current directory indicator
dirname file.txt
# Output: .

# Root-level file
dirname /file.txt
# Output: /

# Multiple arguments
dirname /path/to/file1.txt /other/file2.txt
# Output: /path/to\n/other

# In shell scripting: find script's directory
script_dir=$(dirname "$0")

# Navigate to script's directory
cd "$(dirname "$0")"

# Robust way to get script's absolute directory
script_dir=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)

Gotchas

• dirname is purely string-based. It does not check if the directory exists or resolve symlinks. Use realpath for that.
• dirname /path/to/ outputs /path (trailing slash means to is the last component).
• dirname name (no slashes) outputs . (current directory).
• For bash parameter expansion, ${var%/*} is similar to dirname "$var" but behaves differently for paths without slashes.
• Multiple arguments are supported without special flags (unlike basename which needs -a).