Linux Shells by Example

basename—with a directory name delivers portions of the pathname

basename string [ suffix ]
dirname string

basename deletes any prefix ending in / (forward slash) and the suffix (if present in string) from string, and prints the result on the standard output.

Example A.6.

1 basename /usr/local/bin 2 scriptname="`basename $0`"

Explanation

1. Strips off the prefix /usr/local/ and displays bin.

2. Assigns just the name of the script, $0, to the variable scriptname.