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_res‐
              olution(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).

SEE ALSO
       chroot(2), getcwd(3), path_resolution(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                                       2010-11-25                                   CHDIR(2)