How do I get the equivalent of dirname() in a batch file?

for %%F in (%filename%) do set dirname=%%~dpF

This will set %dirname% to the drive and directory of the file name stored in %filename%.

Careful with filenames containing spaces, though. Either they have to be set with surrounding quotes:

set filename="C:\MyDir\MyFile with space.txt"

or you have to put the quotes around the argument in the for loop:

for %%F in ("%filename%") do set dirname=%%~dpF

Either method will work, both at the same time won’t 🙂