++ atcroft -- File::Specdoes the job:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use File::Spec;

{
    my $pathName = "/usr/tmp/booger/test.dat";
    my $baseName = ExtractLastDir($pathName);
    print "Result is $baseName\n";
}

exit;


sub ExtractLastDir
{
    my ($fullName, @extraStuff) = @_;
    if (!defined $fullName) { $fullName = ''; }

    my ($volumeName, $directoryPath, $fileName) = File::Spec->splitpat
+h($fullName);
    my @directoryNames = File::Spec->splitdir($directoryPath);

    # Grab the last element from the directory -- but it is probably b
+lank
    my $lastDirectory = pop @directoryNames;

    # So if it is blank, get the next one
    if ($lastDirectory eq '')
    {
        $lastDirectory = pop @directoryNames;
    }

    return $lastDirectory;
}

__END__

C:\Steve\Dev\PerlMonks\P-2013-10-30@1354-BaseDir>basedir3.pl
Result is booger
[download]