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 file system, 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).

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

COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.41 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.