chdir, fchdir — change working directory
Synopsis
#include <unistd.h>
int chdir(const char *path);
int fchdir(int fd);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
fchdir():
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
|| /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
|| /* Glibc up to and including 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE
Description
chdir() changes the current working directory of the calling process to the directory specified in path.
fchdir() is identical to chdir(); the only difference is that the directory is given as an open file descriptor.
Return Value
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.
Errors
Depending on the filesystem, other errors can be returned. The more general errors for chdir() are listed below:
- EACCES
Search permission is denied for one of the components of path. (See also path_resolution(7).)
- EFAULT
path points outside your accessible address space.
- EIO
An I/O error occurred.
- ELOOP
Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving path.
- ENAMETOOLONG
path is too long.
- ENOENT
The directory specified in path does not exist.
- ENOMEM
Insufficient kernel memory was available.
- ENOTDIR
A component of path is not a directory.
The general errors for fchdir() are listed below:
- EACCES
Search permission was denied on the directory open on fd.
- EBADF
fd is not a valid file descriptor.
- ENOTDIR
fd does not refer to a directory.
Conforming to
POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4, 4.4BSD.
Notes
The current working directory is the starting point for interpreting relative pathnames (those not starting with '/').
A child process created via fork(2) inherits its parent's current working directory. The current working directory is left unchanged by execve(2).
See Also
Colophon
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Referenced By
archive_write_disk(3), bmake(1), chroot(2), clone(2), cpuset(7), dirfd(3), fastrm(1), filefuncs.3am(3), fts(3), ftw(3), getcwd(3), innfeed(8), mc(1), open(2), opendkim.conf(5), opendmarc.conf(5), path_resolution(7), perlfunc(1), pivot_root(2), pthreads(7), rmdir(2), signal-safety(7), star(1), start-stop-daemon.openrc(8), stress-ng(1), supervise-daemon(8), syscalls(2), unshare(2), webalizer(1).
The man page fchdir(2) is an alias of chdir(2).