Filename without extension terminology

Question

What is the technical term used for a filename without the extension?

For example in the following file path:

C:\Folder\foo.txt

What is the terminology used for foo?

I'm a little surprised this question survived. These tend to be migrated to [English Language & Usage](https://english.stackexchange.com/). In this case, I can't find anything like it on EL&U, but it *was* asked just a few months later on [Software Engineering](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/q/337127). (For my money, the best "answers" are in the comments there.) — John Y, Feb 08 '22 at 21:30

user36800 · Answer 1 · 2020-10-30T20:40:59.067

Lots of citations to Wikipedia, but one term on that page that seems to be unambiguous is stem. Stem seems better than base name/basename because, in Unix, the basename command simply removes the folder path and keeps the extension.

I suspect that most will not think of stem as including the folder path, but if you want to be sure, you can say base name stem or stem of the base name. It shouldn't be necessary, though. There is a lot of confirmatory information here.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:52

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Extensionless is what I typically use and hear used.

answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:52

Guvante

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:53

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A 'file', or 'blank file' maybe.

Also the part before the dot is called a 'basename', 'base name', 'filename', or a 'file name'.

answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:53

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:53

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It is just called a "file" if referring to its base name according to wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename

answered Aug 17 '16 at 23:53

Christian Waldmann

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Filename without extension terminology

4 Answers4