rename - change the name of a file
#include <stdio.h>
int
rename(const char *from, const char *to);
rename() causes the link named from to be renamed as to. If
to exists,
it is first removed. Both from and to must be of the same
type (that is,
both directories or both non-directories), and must reside
on the same
file system.
rename() guarantees that if to already exists, an instance
of to will always
exist, even if the system should crash in the middle of
the operation.
If the final component of from is a symbolic link, the symbolic link is
renamed, not the file or directory to which it points.
A 0 value is returned if the operation succeeds, otherwise
rename() returns
-1 and the global variable errno indicates the reason
for the failure.
rename() will fail and neither of the argument files will be
affected if:
[ENAMETOOLONG]
A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX}
characters,
or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX}
characters.
[ENOENT] A component of the from path does not exist,
or a path prefix
of to does not exist.
[EACCES] A component of either path prefix denies
search permission.
[EACCES] The requested link requires writing in a directory with a
mode that denies write permission.
[EPERM] The directory containing from is marked
sticky, and neither
the containing directory nor from are owned by
the effective
user ID.
[EPERM] The to file exists, the directory containing
to is marked
sticky, and neither the containing directory
nor to are
owned by the effective user ID.
[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in
translating either
pathname.
[EMLINK] The link count on the source file or destination directory
is at the maximum. A rename cannot be completed under
these conditions.
[ENOTDIR] A component of either path prefix is not a directory.
[ENOTDIR] from is a directory, but to is not a directory.
[EISDIR] to is a directory, but from is not a directory.
[EXDEV] The link named by to and the file named by
from are on different
logical devices (file systems). Note
that this error
code will not be returned if the implementation permits
cross-device links.
[ENOSPC] The directory in which the entry for the new
name is being
placed cannot be extended because there is no
space left on
the file system containing the directory.
[EDQUOT] The directory in which the entry for the new
name is being
placed cannot be extended because the user's
quota of disk
blocks on the file system containing the directory has been
exhausted.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while making or updating
a directory
entry.
[EROFS] The requested link requires writing in a directory on a
read-only file system.
[EFAULT] Path points outside the process's allocated
address space.
[EINVAL] from is a parent directory of to, or an attempt is made to
rename `.' or `..'.
[ENOTEMPTY] to is a directory and is not empty.
open(2), symlink(7)
The rename() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1988
(``POSIX'').
The system can deadlock if a loop in the file system graph
is present.
This loop takes the form of an entry in directory `a', say
`a/foo', being
a hard link to directory `b', and an entry in directory `b',
say `b/bar',
being a hard link to directory `a'. When such a loop exists
and two separate
processes attempt to perform `rename a/foo b/bar' and
`rename b/bar
a/foo', respectively, the system may deadlock attempting to
lock both directories
for modification. Hard links to directories
should be replaced
by symbolic links by the system administrator.
OpenBSD 3.6 June 4, 1993
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