---
title: dirname & idirname
category: Expression Terms
---

_Since version 3.1_

The `dirname` term allows matching on the parent directory structure for a given
file.

For the examples below, given a file with a wholename (the relative path from
the project root) of `foo/bar/baz`, the dirname portion is `foo/bar`.

The following two terms will match any file whose dirname is either exactly a
match for `foo/bar` or is any child directory of `foo/bar`. The first of these
two is a shortcut for the second:

      ["dirname", "foo/bar"]
      ["dirname", "foo/bar", ["depth", "ge", 0]]

The second of those terms uses a relational expression based on the depth of the
file within the specified dirname. A file is considered to have `depth == 0` if
it is contained directly within the specified dirname. It has `depth == 1` if it
is contained in a direct child directory of the specified dirname, `depth == 2`
if it is contained in a grand-child directory and so on.

The relational expression accepts the same relational operators as described in
the [size term](size.md).

If you wanted to match only files that were directly in the `foo/bar` dir:

      ["dirname", "foo/bar", ["depth", "eq", 0]]

If you wanted to match only files that were in a grand-child or deeper:

      ["dirname", "foo/bar", ["depth", "ge", 2]]

`idirname` is the case insensitive version of `dirname`. If the watched root is
detected as a case insensitive fileystem, `dirname` is equivalent to `idirname`.
