Extract directory from path

Using ${file%/*} like suggested by Urvin/LuFFy is technically better since you won't rely on an external command. To get the basename in the same way you could do ${file##*/}. It's unnecessary to use an external command unless you need to.

file="/stuff/backup/file.zip"
filename=${1##*/}     # file.zip
directory=${1%/*}     # /stuff/backup

It would also be fully POSIX compliant this way. Hope it helps! :-)

dirname $file

will output

stuff/backup

which is the opposite of basename:

basename $file

would output

file.zip

For getting directorypath from the filepath:

file="stuff/backup/file.zip"
dirPath=${file%/*}/
echo ${dirPath}

dirname $file

is what you are looking for