Name

chdir, fchdir — change working directory

Synopsis

#include <unistd.h>
int chdir( const char *path);
 
int fchdir( int fd);
 
[Note] Note
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
fchdir():
_BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500

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).

The prototype for fchdir() is only available if _BSD_SOURCE is defined, or _XOPEN_SOURCE is defined with the value 500.

SEE ALSO

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

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.24 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/.


Copyright (c) 1992 Drew Eckhardt (drewcs.colorado.edu), March 28, 1992

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this
manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date.  The author(s) assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from
the use of the information contained herein.  The author(s) may not
have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual,
which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working
professionally.

Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by
the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work.

Modified by Michael Haardt <michaelmoria.de>
Modified 1993-07-21 by Rik Faith <faithcs.unc.edu>
Modified 1995-04-15 by Michael Chastain <mecshell.portal.com>:
  Added 'fchdir'. Fixed bugs in error section.
Modified 1996-10-21 by Eric S. Raymond <esrthyrsus.com>
Modified 1997-08-21 by Joseph S. Myers <jsm28cam.ac.uk>
Modified 2004-06-23 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpagesgmail.com>