File::Basename - Parse file paths into directory, filename and suffix.
($name,$path,$suffix) = fileparse($fullname,@suffixlist);
$name = fileparse($fullname,@suffixlist);
$basename = basename($fullname,@suffixlist);
$dirname = dirname($fullname);
These routines allow you to parse file paths into their directory, filename
B<NOTE>: C<dirname()> and C<basename()> emulate the behaviours, and
quirks, of the shell and C functions of the same name. See each
function's documentation for details. If your concern is just parsing
paths it is safer to use L<File::Spec>'s C<splitpath()> and
# Where $path_separator is / for Unix, \ for Windows, etc...
dirname($path) . $path_separator . basename($path);
is equivalent to the original path for all systems but VMS.
# A bit of juggling to insure that C<use re 'taint';> always works, since
# File::Basename is used during the Perl build, when the re extension may
unless (eval { require re
; })
{ eval ' sub re::import { $^H |= 0x00100000; } ' } # HINT_RE_TAINT
our(@ISA, @EXPORT, $VERSION, $Fileparse_fstype, $Fileparse_igncase);
@EXPORT = qw(fileparse fileparse_set_fstype basename dirname);
fileparse_set_fstype
($^O
);
my($filename, $directories, $suffix) = fileparse($path);
my($filename, $directories, $suffix) = fileparse($path, @suffixes);
my $filename = fileparse($path, @suffixes);
The C<fileparse()> routine divides a file path into its $directories, $filename
and (optionally) the filename $suffix.
$directories contains everything up to and including the last
directory separator in the $path including the volume (if applicable).
The remainder of the $path is the $filename.
# On Unix returns ("baz", "/foo/bar/", "")
fileparse("/foo/bar/baz");
# On Windows returns ("baz", "C:\foo\bar\", "")
fileparse("C:\foo\bar\baz");
# On Unix returns ("", "/foo/bar/baz/", "")
fileparse("/foo/bar/baz/");
If @suffixes are given each element is a pattern (either a string or a
C<qr//>) matched against the end of the $filename. The matching
portion is removed and becomes the $suffix.
# On Unix returns ("baz", "/foo/bar", ".txt")
fileparse("/foo/bar/baz", qr/\.[^.]*/);
If type is non-Unix (see C<fileparse_set_fstype()>) then the pattern
matching for suffix removal is performed case-insensitively, since
those systems are not case-sensitive when opening existing files.
You are guaranteed that C<$directories . $filename . $suffix> will
denote the same location as the original $path.
my($fullname,@suffices) = @_;
unless (defined $fullname) {
Carp
::croak
("fileparse(): need a valid pathname");
my($type,$igncase) = ($Fileparse_fstype, $Fileparse_igncase);
my($taint) = substr($fullname,0,0); # Is $fullname tainted?
if ($type eq "VMS" and $fullname =~ m{/} ) {
# We're doing Unix emulation
if (grep { $type eq $_ } qw(MSDOS DOS MSWin32 Epoc)) {
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ /^((?:.*[:\\\/])?
)(.*)/s
);
$dirpath .= '.\\' unless $dirpath =~ /[\\\/]\z
/;
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ m
#^((?:.*[:\\/])?)(.*)#s);
$dirpath = './' unless $dirpath; # Can't be 0
$dirpath .= '/' unless $dirpath =~ m
#[\\/]\z#;
elsif ($type eq "MacOS") {
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ /^(.*:)?(.*)/s);
$dirpath = ':' unless $dirpath;
elsif ($type eq "AmigaOS") {
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ /(.*[:\/])?
(.*)/s
);
$dirpath = './' unless $dirpath;
elsif ($type eq 'VMS' ) {
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ /^(.*[:>\]])?(.*)/s);
$dirpath ||= ''; # should always be defined
else { # Default to Unix semantics.
($dirpath,$basename) = ($fullname =~ m
#^(.*/)?(.*)#s);
if ($orig_type eq 'VMS' and $fullname =~ m
:^(/[^/]+/000000(/|$))(.*):) {
# dev:[000000] is top of VMS tree, similar to Unix '/'
# so strip it off and treat the rest as "normal"
($dirpath,$basename) = ($remainder =~ m
#^(.*/)?(.*)#s);
$dirpath ||= ''; # should always be defined
$dirpath = $devspec.$dirpath;
$dirpath = './' unless $dirpath;
foreach $suffix (@suffices) {
my $pat = ($igncase ?
'(?i)' : '') . "($suffix)\$";
if ($basename =~ s/$pat//s) {
$taint .= substr($suffix,0,0);
# Ensure taint is propgated from the path to its pieces.
wantarray ?
($basename .= $taint, $dirpath .= $taint, $tail)
my $filename = basename($path);
my $filename = basename($path, @suffixes);
This function is provided for compatibility with the Unix shell command
C<basename(1)>. It does B<NOT> always return the file name portion of a
path as you might expect. To be safe, if you want the file name portion of
a path use C<fileparse()>.
C<basename()> returns the last level of a filepath even if the last
level is clearly directory. In effect, it is acting like C<pop()> for
paths. This differs from C<fileparse()>'s behaviour.
@suffixes work as in C<fileparse()> except all regex metacharacters are
# These two function calls are equivalent.
my $filename = basename("/foo/bar/baz.txt", ".txt");
my $filename = fileparse("/foo/bar/baz.txt", qr/\Q.txt\E/);
Also note that in order to be compatible with the shell command,
C<basename()> does not strip off a suffix if it is identical to the
remaining characters in the filename.
# The basename utility deletes any prefix ending with the last slash `/'
# character present in string (after first stripping trailing slashes)
_strip_trailing_sep
($path);
my($basename, $dirname, $suffix) = fileparse
( $path, map("\Q$_\E",@_) );
# The suffix is not stripped if it is identical to the remaining
if( length $suffix and !length $basename ) {
# Ensure that basename '/' == '/'
if( !length $basename ) {
This function is provided for compatibility with the Unix shell
command C<dirname(1)> and has inherited some of its quirks. In spite of
its name it does B<NOT> always return the directory name as you might
expect. To be safe, if you want the directory name of a path use
Only on VMS (where there is no ambiguity between the file and directory
portions of a path) and AmigaOS (possibly due to an implementation quirk in
this module) does C<dirname()> work like C<fileparse($path)>, returning just the
my $directories = dirname($path);
When using Unix or MSDOS syntax this emulates the C<dirname(1)> shell function
which is subtly different from how C<fileparse()> works. It returns all but
the last level of a file path even if the last level is clearly a directory.
In effect, it is not returning the directory portion but simply the path one
level up acting like C<chop()> for file paths.
Also unlike C<fileparse()>, C<dirname()> does not include a trailing slash on
# returns /foo/bar. fileparse() would return /foo/bar/
# also returns /foo/bar despite the fact that baz is clearly a
# directory. fileparse() would return /foo/bar/baz/
dirname("/foo/bar/baz/");
# returns '.'. fileparse() would return 'foo/'
Under VMS, if there is no directory information in the $path, then the
current default device and directory is used.
my($type) = $Fileparse_fstype;
if( $type eq 'VMS' and $path =~ m{/} ) {
local($File::Basename
::Fileparse_fstype
) = '';
my($basename, $dirname) = fileparse
($path);
$dirname ||= $ENV{DEFAULT
};
elsif ($type eq 'MacOS') {
if( !length($basename) && $dirname !~ /^[^:]+:\z/) {
_strip_trailing_sep
($dirname);
($basename,$dirname) = fileparse
$dirname;
$dirname .= ":" unless $dirname =~ /:\z/;
elsif (grep { $type eq $_ } qw(MSDOS DOS MSWin32 OS2)) {
_strip_trailing_sep
($dirname);
unless( length($basename) ) {
($basename,$dirname) = fileparse
$dirname;
_strip_trailing_sep
($dirname);
elsif ($type eq 'AmigaOS') {
if ( $dirname =~ /:\z/) { return $dirname }
$dirname =~ s
#[^:/]+\z## unless length($basename);
_strip_trailing_sep
($dirname);
unless( length($basename) ) {
($basename,$dirname) = fileparse
$dirname;
_strip_trailing_sep
($dirname);
# Strip the trailing path separator.
sub _strip_trailing_sep
{
my $type = $Fileparse_fstype;
$_[0] =~ s/([^:]):\z/$1/s;
elsif (grep { $type eq $_ } qw(MSDOS DOS MSWin32 OS2)) {
$_[0] =~ s/([^:])[\\\/]*\z/$1/;
$_[0] =~ s{(.)/*\z}{$1}s;
=item C<fileparse_set_fstype>
my $type = fileparse_set_fstype();
my $previous_type = fileparse_set_fstype($type);
Normally File::Basename will assume a file path type native to your current
operating system (ie. /foo/bar style on Unix, \foo\bar on Windows, etc...).
With this function you can override that assumption.
Valid $types are "MacOS", "VMS", "AmigaOS", "OS2", "RISCOS",
"MSWin32", "DOS" (also "MSDOS" for backwards bug compatibility),
"Epoc" and "Unix" (all case-insensitive). If an unrecognized $type is
given "Unix" will be assumed.
If you've selected VMS syntax, and the file specification you pass to
one of these routines contains a "/", they assume you are using Unix
emulation and apply the Unix syntax rules instead, for that function
my @Ignore_Case = qw(MacOS VMS AmigaOS OS2 RISCOS MSWin32 MSDOS DOS Epoc);
my @Types = (@Ignore_Case, qw(Unix));
sub fileparse_set_fstype
{
my $old = $Fileparse_fstype;
$Fileparse_fstype = 'Unix'; # default
foreach my $type (@Types) {
$Fileparse_fstype = $type if $new_type =~ /^$type/i;
(grep $Fileparse_fstype eq $_, @Ignore_Case) ?
1 : 0;
L<dirname(1)>, L<basename(1)>, L<File::Spec>