NAME
chdir, fchdir
— change current working
directory
SYNOPSIS
#include
<unistd.h>
int
chdir(const
char *path);
int
fchdir(int
fd);
DESCRIPTION
The path argument points to the pathname of
a directory. The
chdir()
function causes the named directory to become the current working directory,
that is, the starting point for path searches of pathnames not beginning
with a slash (‘/’).
The
fchdir()
function causes the directory referenced by fd to
become the current working directory, the starting point for path searches
of pathnames not beginning with a slash
(‘/’).
In order for a directory to become the current directory, a process must have execute (search) access to the directory.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
chdir() will fail and the current working
directory will be unchanged if one or more of the following are true:
- [
ENOTDIR] - A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
- [
ENAMETOOLONG] - A component of a pathname exceeded
{NAME_MAX}characters, or an entire path name exceeded{PATH_MAX}characters. - [
ENOENT] - The named directory does not exist.
- [
ELOOP] - Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
- [
EACCES] - Search permission is denied for any component of the pathname.
- [
EFAULT] - path points outside the process's allocated address space.
- [
EIO] - An I/O error occurred while reading from the file system.
fchdir() will fail and the current working
directory will be unchanged if one or more of the following are true:
- [
EACCES] - Search permission is denied for the directory referenced by the file descriptor.
- [
ENOTDIR] - The file descriptor does not reference a directory.
- [
EBADF] - The argument fd is not a valid file descriptor.
- [
EIO] - An I/O error occurred while reading from the file system.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The chdir() and
fchdir() functions are expected to conform to
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”).
HISTORY
The chdir() system call first appeared in
Version 1 AT&T UNIX, and
fchdir() in 4.3BSD-Reno.