Extract a parent directory from a path.
Linux Commands: Use dirname without needing the path to exist.
dirname -- reports/2026/annual.csvExpected output EXAMPLE
reports/2026
Details
Run in Bash on GNU/Linux in a scratch directory. Tested with the GNU utilities supplied by Ubuntu. Use dirname without needing the path to exist.
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · · GNU bash, version 5.2.21(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) · bash 5.2.21-2ubuntu4; coreutils 9.4-3ubuntu6.3; findutils 4.9.0-5build1
Test inputs, results and environment
The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Unprivileged snippet process, external networking disabled, read-only root filesystem, and a fresh temporary working directory. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.
- Architecture / host kernel
- x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
- Snippet identity / locale
- uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged) / C.UTF-8
- Interpreter invocation
bash -euo pipefail -c <published code>- Container image ID
sha256:32dc2d998158b6554c99b73b533f423696a0f3e31e8cbea9db10b5eee9a2fadd- Code SHA-256
d4e23ac5e877c87304b3a91d84126bfa81a558f25aeec03e3c1c145948fd8d61- Dependencies
- bash 5.2.21-2ubuntu4; coreutils 9.4-3ubuntu6.3; findutils 4.9.0-5build1
Test input setup
These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.
# No input files required.
Observed standard output
reports/2026
Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.