DIRNAME(1) BSD Reference Manual DIRNAME(1)
dirname - return directory portion of pathname
dirname pathname
dirname deletes the filename portion, beginning with the last slash ('/') character to the end of pathname, and writes the result to the standard output. The dirname utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
The following line sets the shell variable FOO to /usr/bin: FOO=`dirname /usr/bin/tail`
basename(1), csh(1), sh(1), dirname(3)
The dirname utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 ("POSIX.2"). MirBSD #10-current April 18, 1994 1