Linux commands: basename

Oct 17, 2020

Learn how the Linux basename command returns the last portion of a path, so basename /Users/flavio/test.txt gives you back just the test.txt filename.

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Suppose you have a path to a file, for example /Users/flavio/test.txt.

Running

basename /Users/flavio/test.txt

will return the text.txt string:

Terminal showing basename /Users/flavio/test.txt command outputting test.txt

If you run basename on a path string that points to a directory, you will get the last segment of the path. In this example, /Users/flavio is a directory:

Terminal showing basename commands on directory path /Users/flavio both outputting flavio

The basename command works on Linux, macOS, WSL, and anywhere you have a UNIX environment

Tagged: CLI · All topics

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