Name

basename - extract file name from a path

Synopsis

#include <libgen.h>

char* basename(char* path);

Description

Given a file path, basename() returns that file's name. basename() works purely lexically, meaning it only manipulates the path as a string, and does not check if such a file actually exists.

A call to basename() may reuse and modify the passed in path buffer. Do not expect it to have the same value after calling basename().

Return value

basename() returns the file name as a string. This string may be allocated in static memory, or it may point to some part of the original path buffer. Do not free() the returned string, and do not free() the original path buffer while using the returned string.

Examples

#include <AK/LogStream.h>
#include <libgen.h>

int main()
{
    char path1[] = "/home/anon/README.md";
    dbgln("{}", basename(path1)); // should be "README.md"

    char path2[] = "foo/bar/";
    dbgln("{}", basename(path2)); // should be "bar"

    char path3[] = "foo";
    dbgln("{}", basename(path3)); // should be "foo"

    char path4[] = "/";
    dbgln("{}", basename(path4)); // should be "/"
}

See also

• dirname(3)