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📛 NAME

dirname - strip last component from file name

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
📂 Get directory from path	dirname /path/to/file	Outputs the directory portion of the path
🔗 Strip trailing slash	dirname /path/to/dir/	Removes trailing slash and last component
📄 File with no slash	dirname filename	Outputs "." (current directory)
📦 Multiple names	dirname dir1/str dir2/str	Processes multiple arguments, outputting each directory
🔚 Zero‑separated output	dirname -z file1 file2	Outputs NUL‑terminated strings for scripting

📖 SYNOPSIS

dirname [OPTION] NAME...

📝 DESCRIPTION

Output each NAME with its last non‑slash component and trailing slashes removed; if NAME contains no /'s, output '.' (meaning the current directory).

🔹 -z, --zero

🔚 end each output line with NUL, not newline

❓ --help

❓ display this help and exit

📋 --version

📋 output version information and exit

💡 EXAMPLES

dirname /usr/bin/
-> "/usr"

📂 Strips the last component, leaving the directory path.

dirname dir1/str dir2/str
-> "dir1" followed by "dir2"

📁 Processes multiple names, outputting each directory part.

dirname stdio.h
-> "."

⚪ No slashes, so outputs the current directory symbol.

👤 AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

🐛 REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

©️ COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

📚 SEE ALSO

basename(1), readlink(1)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dirname>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dirname invocation'

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📖 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION 💡 EXAMPLES 👤 AUTHOR 🐛 REPORTING BUGS ©️ COPYRIGHT 📚 SEE ALSO