chdir() - Unix, Linux System Call

NAME

chdir, fchdir - change working directory

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h> 
int chdir(const char *path); 
int fchdir(int fd);

DESCRIPTION

chdir() changes the current working directory to that 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:

Error Code	Description
EACCES	Search permission is denied for one of the directories in the path prefix of path. (See also path_resolution(2).)
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.

NOTES

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.

CONFORMING TO

SVr4, 4.4BSD, POSIX.1-2001.