dirname

dirname [OPTION] NAME...

Output each NAME with its last non-slash component and trailing slashes removed; if NAME contains no /'s, output '.' (meaning the current directory).

-z, --zero

separate output with NUL rather than newline

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

dirname /usr/bin/

-> "/usr"

dirname dir1/str dir2/str

-> "dir1" followed by "dir2"

dirname stdio.h

-> "."

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

Report dirname bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report dirname translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

basename(1), readlink(1)

The full documentation for dirname is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and dirname programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info coreutils 'dirname invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.