char *
     dirname(const 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.
     If path is a null pointer, the empty string, or contains no `/' charac-
     ters, dirname() returns a pointer to the string ".", signifying the cur-
     rent directory.

RETURN VALUES

     On successful completion, dirname() returns a pointer to the parent
     directory of path.

     If dirname() fails, a null pointer is returned and the global variable
     errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

     The following error codes may be set in errno:

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     The path component to be returned was larger than
                        MAXPATHLEN.

WARNINGS

     The dirname() function returns a pointer to internal static storage space
     that will be overwritten by subsequent calls (each function has its own
     separate storage).

     Other vendor implementations of dirname() may modify the contents of the
     string passed to dirname(); this should be taken into account when writ-
     ing code which calls this function if portability is desired.

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.

AUTHORS

     Todd C. Miller <Todd.Miller@courtesan.com>

BSD                             August 17, 1997                            BSD