What is File.basename() in Ruby?

Overview

We use the basename() method of the File instance to return the file name of the specified file_name. If a suffix is given and it is present at the end of the file name, then the suffix is removed.

Syntax

File.basename(file_name, suffix)

Parameters

file_name: This is the file name of the file.

suffix: This is the file extension. If the suffix is present, then the file name will be returned with its suffix removed.

Return value

This method returns a file name.

Code example

main.rb
test.py
test.js
test.txt
# create some file names
fn1 = "main.rb"
fn2 = "test.js"
fn3 = "test.txt"
fn4 = "test.py"
# use the basename() without suffix
puts File.basename(fn1)  # main.rb
puts File.basename(fn2)  # test.js
# use the basename() with suffix
puts File.basename(fn3, ".txt") # test
puts File.basename(fn4, ".py")  # test

Code explanation

  • We create the files main.rb, test.txt, test.js, and test.py.
  • We find our application code in the main.rb file.
  • Lines 2–5: We create four variables with the file names we need.
  • Lines 8–9: We take the base names of the files, using the basename() method and without passing the suffix argument. Then, we print the results to the console.
  • Lines 12–13: We also use the basename() method to get the base names of the files and we pass their suffixes as arguments. After that, we print the results to the console.

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