dirname Command Examples

Calculates the parent directory of a file or directory path. More information: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/dirname-invocation.html.

• Calculate the parent directory of a given path:

dirname {{path/to/file_or_directory}}

• Calculate the parent directory of multiple paths:

dirname {{path/to/file_or_directory1 path/to/file_or_directory2 ...}}

• Delimit output with a NUL character instead of a newline (useful when combining with xargs):

dirname --zero {{path/to/file_or_directory1 path/to/file_or_directory2 ...}}