bash-doc 4.3-6ubuntu1 / usr / share / doc / bash / examples / functions / dirname

# Date: Fri, 11 Oct 91 11:22:36 edt
# From: friedman@gnu.ai.mit.edu
# To: bfox@gnu.ai.mit.edu

# A replacement for dirname(1).  This one appears less often on some
# systems I use than basename(1), and I really depend on it for some
# things.  Usage: dirname [path]
function dirname ()
{
 local dir="$1"
 local tdir="${dir%/}"

    # Strip trailing '/' characters from dir (unusual that this should
    # ever occur, but dirname(1) seems to deal with it.)
    while [ "${tdir}" != "${dir}" ]; do
       tdir="${dir}"
       dir="${tdir%/}"
    done

    echo "${dir%/*}"
}