.\" Copyright (c) 2001-2003 The Open Group, All Rights Reserved 
.TH "BASENAME" 3P 2003 "IEEE/The Open Group" "POSIX Programmer's Manual"
.\" basename 
.SH PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
.SH NAME
basename \- return the last component of a pathname
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
\fB#include <libgen.h>
.br
.sp
char *basename(char *\fP\fIpath\fP\fB); \fP
\fB
.br
\fP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
The \fIbasename\fP() function shall take the pathname pointed to by
\fIpath\fP and return a pointer to the final component of
the pathname, deleting any trailing \fB'/'\fP characters.
.LP
If the string consists entirely of the \fB'/'\fP character, \fIbasename\fP()
shall return a pointer to the string
\fB"/"\fP . If the string is exactly \fB"//"\fP, it is implementation-defined
whether \fB'/'\fP or \fB"//"\fP is
returned.
.LP
If \fIpath\fP is a null pointer or points to an empty string, \fIbasename\fP()
shall return a pointer to the string
\fB"."\fP .
.LP
The \fIbasename\fP() function may modify the string pointed to by
\fIpath\fP, and may return a pointer to static storage that
may then be overwritten by a subsequent call to \fIbasename\fP().
.LP
The \fIbasename\fP() function need not be reentrant. A function that
is not required to be reentrant is not required to be
thread-safe.
.SH RETURN VALUE
.LP
The \fIbasename\fP() function shall return a pointer to the final
component of \fIpath\fP.
.SH ERRORS
.LP
No errors are defined.
.LP
\fIThe following sections are informative.\fP
.SH EXAMPLES
.SS Using basename()
.LP
The following program fragment returns a pointer to the value \fIlib\fP,
which is the base name of \fB/usr/lib\fP.
.sp
.RS
.nf

\fB#include <libgen.h>
\&...
char *name = "/usr/lib";
char *base;
.sp

base = basename(name);
\&...
\fP
.fi
.RE
.SS Sample Input and Output Strings for basename()
.LP
In the following table, the input string is the value pointed to by
\fIpath\fP, and the output string is the return value of
the \fIbasename\fP() function.
.TS C
center; l l.
\fBInput String\fP	\fBOutput String\fP
"/usr/lib"	"lib"
"/usr/"	"usr"
"/"	"/"
"///"	"/"
"//usr//lib//"	"lib"
.TE
.SH APPLICATION USAGE
.LP
None.
.SH RATIONALE
.LP
None.
.SH FUTURE DIRECTIONS
.LP
None.
.SH SEE ALSO
.LP
\fIdirname\fP(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE\ Std\ 1003.1-2001,
\fI<libgen.h>\fP, the Shell and Utilities volume of IEEE\ Std\ 1003.1-2001,
\fIbasename\fP
.SH COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .