dirname Command Cheat Sheet

dirname strips the last component from a file name, outputting the directory path. It is the counterpart to basename and is essential for shell scripting when handling file paths dynamically.

Synopsis

dirname [OPTION] NAME...

Basic Usage

Get Directory of a File Path

dirname /usr/bin/python3

Output:

/usr/bin

Handle Trailing Slashes

dirname ignores trailing slashes.

dirname /usr/bin/

Output:

/usr

No Slashing (Relative Path)

If the path contains no slashes, dirname outputs . (current directory).

dirname myfile.txt

Output:

.

Multiple Arguments

You can pass multiple paths at once.

dirname /home/user/docs/report.pdf /var/log/syslog

Output:

/home/user/docs
/var/log

Use in Shell Scripts

Get Script's Directory

A common pattern to ensure scripts work regardless of where they are called from.

#!/bin/bash

# Get the directory where the script is located
SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname "$0")

# Access a config file in the same directory
source "$SCRIPT_DIR/config.conf"

echo "Running from: $SCRIPT_DIR"

Combine with readlink

If the script is a symlink, dirname alone might give the symlink's location, not the target's. Use readlink -f to resolve it first.

REAL_PATH=$(readlink -f "$0")
DIR=$(dirname "$REAL_PATH")

dirname vs basename

Combining Them

To get the parent directory name (e.g., just user from /home/user/file.txt):

basename $(dirname /home/user/file.txt)
# Output: user

Zero-Terminated Output (-z)

Use a NUL character instead of a newline separator. Useful for handling filenames with special characters (like newlines) when piping to xargs -0.

dirname -z /path/to/file1 /path/to/file2 | xargs -0 ...

Practical Examples

Loop Through Files and Process Parent Directory

find /var/www -name "*.conf" | while read file; do
    dir=$(dirname "$file")
    echo "Processing config in $dir"
    # do something with $dir
done

Create Output Directory Before Copying

Ensure the destination directory exists before copying a file.

dest="/backup/2026/02/14/data.tar.gz"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$dest")" && cp data.tar.gz "$dest"

Exit Status

Notes

• dirname is purely a string manipulator. It does not check if the directory actually exists.
• It is POSIX standard, meaning it works reliably across Linux, macOS, BSD, and Unix systems.