CHDIR

Oct 21, 2019

CHDIR(2) Linux Programmer’s Manual CHDIR(2)

NAME

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():
_BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 ||
_XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED
|| /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L

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 file 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.

CONFORMING TO

SVr4, 4.4BSD, POSIX.1-2001.

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).