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Alphabetical listing for C

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chdir(2)
NAME
  chdir, fchdir - Change the current directory

SYNOPSIS
  #include <unistd.h>

  int chdir(
	  const char *path );

  int fchdir(
	  int filedes );

STANDARDS
  Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards
  as follows:

  chdir(): XSH4.0, XSH4.2, XSH5.0

  fchdir(): XSH4.2, XSH5.0

  Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
  industry standards and associated tags.

PARAMETERS
  path
      Points to the pathname of the directory.

  filedes
      Specifies the file descriptor of the directory.

DESCRIPTION
  The chdir() function changes the current directory to the directory
  indicated by the path parameter. If the path parameter refers to a symbolic
  link, the chdir() function sets the current directory to the directory
  pointed to by the symbolic link.

  The fchdir() function has the same effect as chdir() except that the new
  directory is specified by file descriptor (filedes) rather than pathname.

  The current directory, also called the current working directory, is the
  starting point of searches for pathnames that do not begin with a /
  (slash).  In order for a directory to become the current directory, the
  calling process must have search access to the directory.

NOTES
  The current working directory is shared between all threads within the same
  process. Therefore, one thread using the chdir() or fchdir() function will
  affect every other thread in that process.

RETURN VALUES
  Upon successful completion, the chdir() function returns a value of 0
  (zero). Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate
  the error.

ERRORS
  If the chdir() function fails, the current directory remains unchanged and
  errno may be set to one of the following values:

  [EACCES]
      Search access is denied for any component of the pathname.

  [EFAULT]
      The path parameter 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]
      The length of the path argument exceeds PATH_MAX or a pathname
      component is longer than NAME_MAX.

      Pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate result
      whose length exceeds PATH_MAX.

  [ENOENT]
      The named directory does not exist, or is an empty string.

  [ENOTDIR]
      A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

  If the fchdir() function fails, the current directory remains unchanged and
  errno may be set to one of the following values:

  [EACCES]
      Search access is denied for any component of the pathname.

  [EBADF]
      The filedes parameter is not a valid open file descriptor.

  [ENOTDIR]
      The file descriptor does not reference a directory.

SEE ALSO
  Functions: chroot(2)

  Commands: cd(1)

  Others: standards(5)

Index for Section 2

Alphabetical listing for C

Top of page