This document is a Mac OS X manual page. Manual pages are a command-line technology for providing documentation. You can view these manual pages locally using the man(1) command. These manual pages come from many different sources, and thus, have a variety of writing styles.

For more information about the manual page format, see the manual page for manpages(5).

File::Basename(3pm)                   Perl Programmers Reference Guide                   File::Basename(3pm)



NAME
       File::Basename - Parse file paths into directory, filename and suffix.

SYNOPSIS
           use File::Basename;

           ($name,$path,$suffix) = fileparse($fullname,@suffixlist);
           $name = fileparse($fullname,@suffixlist);

           $basename = basename($fullname,@suffixlist);
           $dirname  = dirname($fullname);

DESCRIPTION
       These routines allow you to parse file paths into their directory, filename and suffix.

       NOTE: "dirname()" and "basename()" emulate the behaviours, and quirks, of the shell and C functions
       of the same name.  See each function's documentation for details.  If your concern is just parsing
       paths it is safer to use File::Spec's "splitpath()" and "splitdir()" methods.

       It is guaranteed that

           # Where $path_separator is / for Unix, \ for Windows, etc...
           dirname($path) . $path_separator . basename($path);

       is equivalent to the original path for all systems but VMS.

       "fileparse"
               my($filename, $directories, $suffix) = fileparse($path);
               my($filename, $directories, $suffix) = fileparse($path, @suffixes);
               my $filename                         = fileparse($path, @suffixes);

           The "fileparse()" routine divides a file path into its $directories, $filename and (optionally)
           the filename $suffix.

           $directories contains everything up to and including the last directory separator in the $path
           including the volume (if applicable).  The remainder of the $path is the $filename.

                # On Unix returns ("baz", "/foo/bar/", "")
                fileparse("/foo/bar/baz");

                # On Windows returns ("baz", "C:\foo\bar\", "")
                fileparse("C:\foo\bar\baz");

                # On Unix returns ("", "/foo/bar/baz/", "")
                fileparse("/foo/bar/baz/");

           If @suffixes are given each element is a pattern (either a string or a "qr//") matched against
           the end of the $filename.  The matching portion is removed and becomes the $suffix.

                # On Unix returns ("baz", "/foo/bar", ".txt")
                fileparse("/foo/bar/baz", qr/\.[^.]*/);

           If type is non-Unix (see "fileparse_set_fstype()") then the pattern matching for suffix removal
           is performed case-insensitively, since those systems are not case-sensitive when opening existing
           files.

           You are guaranteed that "$directories . $filename . $suffix" will denote the same location as the
           original $path.

       "basename"
               my $filename = basename($path);
               my $filename = basename($path, @suffixes);

           This function is provided for compatibility with the Unix shell command basename(1).  It does NOT
           always return the file name portion of a path as you might expect.  To be safe, if you want the
           file name portion of a path use "fileparse()".

           "basename()" returns the last level of a filepath even if the last level is clearly directory.
           In effect, it is acting like "pop()" for paths.  This differs from "fileparse()"'s behaviour.

               # Both return "bar"
               basename("/foo/bar");
               basename("/foo/bar/");

           @suffixes work as in "fileparse()" except all regex metacharacters are quoted.

               # These two function calls are equivalent.
               my $filename = basename("/foo/bar/baz.txt",  ".txt");
               my $filename = fileparse("/foo/bar/baz.txt", qr/\Q.txt\E/);

           Also note that in order to be compatible with the shell command, "basename()" does not strip off
           a suffix if it is identical to the remaining characters in the filename.

       "dirname"
           This function is provided for compatibility with the Unix shell command dirname(1) and has inher-ited inherited
           ited some of its quirks.  In spite of its name it does NOT always return the directory name as
           you might expect.  To be safe, if you want the directory name of a path use "fileparse()".

           Only on VMS (where there is no ambiguity between the file and directory portions of a path) and
           AmigaOS (possibly due to an implementation quirk in this module) does "dirname()" work like
           "fileparse($path)", returning just the $directories.

               # On VMS and AmigaOS
               my $directories = dirname($path);

           When using Unix or MSDOS syntax this emulates the dirname(1) shell function which is subtly dif-ferent different
           ferent from how "fileparse()" works.  It returns all but the last level of a file path even if
           the last level is clearly a directory.  In effect, it is not returning the directory portion but
           simply the path one level up acting like "chop()" for file paths.

           Also unlike "fileparse()", "dirname()" does not include a trailing slash on its returned path.

               # returns /foo/bar.  fileparse() would return /foo/bar/
               dirname("/foo/bar/baz");

               # also returns /foo/bar despite the fact that baz is clearly a
               # directory.  fileparse() would return /foo/bar/baz/
               dirname("/foo/bar/baz/");

               # returns '.'.  fileparse() would return 'foo/'
               dirname("foo/");

           Under VMS, if there is no directory information in the $path, then the current default device and
           directory is used.

       "fileparse_set_fstype"
             my $type = fileparse_set_fstype();
             my $previous_type = fileparse_set_fstype($type);

           Normally File::Basename will assume a file path type native to your current operating system (ie.
           /foo/bar style on Unix, \foo\bar on Windows, etc...).  With this function you can override that
           assumption.

           Valid $types are "MacOS", "VMS", "AmigaOS", "OS2", "RISCOS", "MSWin32", "DOS" (also "MSDOS" for
           backwards bug compatibility), "Epoc" and "Unix" (all case-insensitive).  If an unrecognized $type
           is given "Unix" will be assumed.

           If you've selected VMS syntax, and the file specification you pass to one of these routines con-tains contains
           tains a "/", they assume you are using Unix emulation and apply the Unix syntax rules instead,
           for that function call only.

SEE ALSO
       dirname(1), basename(1), File::Spec



perl v5.8.8                                      2001-09-21                              File::Basename(3pm)