Specific use of Linux dirname command

01. Command Overview

dirname - strip non-directory suffixes from file names

The dirname command removes the non-directory part of the file name and displays only the contents related to the directory. The dirname command reads the specified path name, retains the last / and the characters following it, deletes the rest, and writes the result to standard output. If there are no characters after the last /, the dirname command uses the second-to-last / and ignores all characters after it. dirname and basename are commonly used within shell command substitution to specify an output file name that is slightly different from the specified input file name.

02. Command format

dirname namedirname options

03. Common options

Print NAME with the part after / removed; if NAME does not contain /, print `.' (which means the current directory).

--help 
 show help and exit --version
 Output version information and exit

04. Reference examples

4.1 What if the last file is a directory?

[deng@localhost test]$ dirname /home/deng/share/
/home/deng

4.2 If the last file is a normal file

[deng@localhost test]$ dirname /home/deng/scott_data.sql 
/home/deng

4.3 If the name does not contain /, then output.

[deng@localhost test]$ dirname dir
.
[deng@localhost test]$

4.4 Relative path case

[deng@localhost test]$ dirname dir/a
dir

4.5 When the path is the root directory

[deng@localhost test]$ dirname /
/
[deng@localhost test]$ dirname //
/
[deng@localhost test]$

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