How to remove the last directory from a path using sed (without using dirname)?

Question

How to delete the last directory with sed, for example:

echo "/dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4" | sed ..... 

So, I would get /dir1/dir2/dir3 .

Answer 1

 sed 's,/*[^/]\+/*$,,' 

If this is part of a shell script, then dirname will definitely be more understandable.

Answer 2

you do not need to use external tools

$ a="/dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4"

$ echo ${a%/*}

Answer 3

echo "/ etc1 / etc2 / etc3 / etc" | sed -e "s // [^ /] * $ //"

produces

/ ETC1 / ETC2 / etc3

Basically, cross out anything at the end after the last slash that does not contain another slash.

Answer 4

you can use the dirname shell command:

 dirname /dir2/dir3/dir4