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I am trying to get "abc.txt" out of /this/is/could/be/any/path/abc.txt using Unix command. Note that /this/is/could/be/any/path is dynamic.

Any idea?

H. Pauwelyn
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iwan
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4 Answers4

87

In bash:

path=/this/is/could/be/any/path/abc.txt

If your path has spaces in it, wrap it in "

path="/this/is/could/be/any/path/a b c.txt"

Then to extract the path, use the basename function

file=$(basename "$path")

or

file=${path##*/}
Rodrigue
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kev
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    `file=${path##*/}` will work in `ksh` as well; in fact, bash borrowed this feature from ksh. Any `sh` on any Linux system is likely to support this, too. – sorpigal Apr 12 '12 at 13:59
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    It should be enclosed in double quotes to avoid problems with funny characters in the file name: `file="$(basename $path)"` or `file="${path##*/}"` – Keith Thompson Jul 19 '14 at 18:58
  • You answer is good, but if the designer wants the script to work with paths that have space, the first answer needs quotation marks around the $path, so: file=${basename "$path"} . I've made an edit of the answer to fix that but I think it needs your approval. @Keith Thompson, file="${basename $path}" wouldn't work, the quotes need to be on $path or the basename function won't work properly. – thebunnyrules Jan 30 '18 at 09:32
  • This is really useful, and basename can remove file extensions as well. – Merlin Oct 10 '21 at 05:59
6

basename path gives the file name at the end of path

Edit:

It is probably worth adding that a common pattern is to use back quotes around commands e.g. `basename ...`, so UNIX shells will execute the command and return its textual value.

So to assign the result of basename to a variable, use

x=`basename ...path...`

and $x will be the file name.

gbulmer
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    I've tried this and basename seems to be falling over on paths where there is a space in the name. – TimGJ Jul 19 '14 at 17:57
2

You can use basename /this/is/could/be/any/path/abc.txt

tonymarschall
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2

You can use dirname command

$ dirname $path
Pavel Dolinin
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  • That is the reverse what OP is asking for: `dirname any/path/abc.txt` -> `any/path`, while they were asking for `abc.txt` – Marcono1234 Feb 29 '20 at 17:31