Basename

basename is a standard UNIX computer program. When basename is given a pathname, it will delete any prefix up to the last slash ('/') character and return the result. basename is described in the Single UNIX Specification and is primarily used in shell scripts.

Usage

The Single UNIX Specification specification for basename is.

basename string [suffix]

string

A pathname

suffix

If specified, basename will also delete the suffix.

Example

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki 
base.wiki

$ basename /home/jsmith/base.wiki .wiki
base

Performance

Since basename accepts only one operand, its usage within the inner loop of shell scripts can be detrimental to performance. Consider

while read file; do
  basename "$file"
done < some-input

The above excerpt would cause a separate process invocation for each line of input. For this reason, shell substitution is typically used instead

echo "${file##*/}";

See also

• List of Unix utilities
• dirname

External links

• basename: return non-directory portion of a pathname – Commands & Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX® Specification, Issue 7 from The Open Group
• basename(1): strip directory and suffix from filenames – Linux User Commands Manual