CHDIR(2)

CHDIR(2) | System Calls Manual | CHDIR(2)

# NAME

chdir, fchdir — change current working directory

# LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

# 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:

[EACCES]
  Search permission is denied for any component of the path name.
[EFAULT]
  path points outside the process's allocated address space.
[EIO]
  An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
[ELOOP]
  Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
[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.
[ENOTDIR]
  A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

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.
[EBADF]
  The argument fd is not a valid file descriptor.
[ENOTDIR]
  The file descriptor does not reference a directory.
[EPERM]
  The argument fd references a directory which is not at or below the current process's root directory.

# SEE ALSO

chroot(2), getcwd(3)

# STANDARDS

The chdir() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 (“POSIX.1”).

# HISTORY

The fchdir() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

February 5, 2013 | NetBSD 7.1