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.TH INVOCATION_NAME 3 2006-04-29 "GNU" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
program_invocation_name, program_invocation_short_name \- \
obtain name used to invoke calling program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.BR "#define _GNU_SOURCE" "         /* See feature_test_macros(7) */"
.B #include <errno.h>

.BI "extern char *" program_invocation_name ;
.BI "extern char *" program_invocation_short_name ;
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I program_invocation_name
contains the name that was used to invoke the calling program.
This is the same as the value of
.I argv[0]
in
.IR main (),
with the difference that the scope of
.I program_invocation_name
is global.

.I program_invocation_short_name
contains the basename component of name that was used to invoke
the calling program.
That is, it is the same value as
.IR program_invocation_name ,
with all text up to and including the final slash (/), if any, removed.

These variables are automatically initialized by the glibc run-time
startup code.
.SH CONFORMING TO
These variables are GNU extensions, and should not be
used in programs intended to be portable.
.SH NOTES
The Linux-specific
.I /proc/[number]/cmdline
file provides access to similar information.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR proc (5)
.SH COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux
.I man-pages
project.
A description of the project,
information about reporting bugs,
and the latest version of this page,
can be found at
\%http://www.kernel.org/doc/man\-pages/.