NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     chdir, fchdir - change current working directory

LIBRARY    [Toc]    [Back]

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     chdir(const char *path);

     int
     fchdir(int fd);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The path argument points to the pathname of a directory.  The chdir()
     function causes the named directory to become the current working directory,
 that is, the starting point for path searches of pathnames not
     beginning with a slash, `/'.

     The fchdir() function causes the directory referenced by fd to become the
     current working directory, the starting point for path searches of pathnames
 not beginning with a slash, `/'.

     In order for a directory to become the current directory, a process must
     have execute (search) access to the directory.

RETURN VALUES    [Toc]    [Back]

     Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value
     of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     chdir() will fail and the current working directory will be unchanged if
     one or more of the following are true:

     [ENOTDIR]          A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} characters,
 or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters.


     [ENOENT]           The named directory does not exist.

     [ELOOP]            Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating
 the pathname.

     [EACCES]           Search permission is denied for any component of the
                        path name.

     [EFAULT]           path points outside the process's allocated address
                        space.

     [EIO]              An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to
                        the file system.

     fchdir() will fail and the current working directory will be unchanged if
     one or more of the following are true:

     [EACCES]           Search permission is denied for the directory referenced
 by the file descriptor.

     [ENOTDIR]          The file descriptor does not reference a directory.

     [EBADF]            The argument fd is not a valid file descriptor.

     [EPERM]            The argument fd references a directory which is not at
                        or below the current process's root directory.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     chroot(2)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The chdir() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (``POSIX.1'').

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The fchdir() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

BSD                            December 11, 1993                           BSD