basename returns "." not in filename (PR#13958)

Jens,

Mmh,

Point is, I gather, that trailing slashes are removed, e.g.,

viggo:~/>basename foo/
foo

So, not a bug.

This unfortunately means that we cannot distinguish between
1) a path with a filename
2) a path without a filename

Of course you can - but that's unrelated to the bug report.

For example in the next version of the ff-package we allow a user to =20=

specify a 'pattern' for all files of a ff dataframe which is path =20
together with a fileprefix, the above means we cannot specify an =20
empty prefix "" for the current working directory, because

dirname("./.")

[1] "."

basename("./.")

[1] "."

dirname("./")

[1] "."

basename("./")

[1] "."

I don't see the connection - I would suggest you read the IEEE Std =20
1003.1-2001 which defines the behavior of basename (and the R =20
documentation for basename clearly states the behavior as well).  The =20=

fact that you are trying to use the wrong tool for your purpose =20
doesn't mean that the tool is broken. I would advise you to ask on R-=20
help how to implement your pattern specification (just FWIW it's non-=20
standard and requirement of trailing slashes does lead to very nasty =20
problems for the user).

Cheers,
Simon