Manpages - chdir.2

chdir, fchdir - change working directory

  #include <unistd.h>

  int chdir(const char *path);
  int fchdir(int fd);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see *feature_test_macros*(7)):

*fchdir*():

      _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
          || /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
          || /* Glibc up to and including 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

*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.

On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

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 directory specified in path 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.

ENOTDIR

fd does not refer to a directory.

POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4, 4.4BSD.

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).

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

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