CHDIR
Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (3P)
Updated: 2017
Page Index
PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
chdir
--- change working directory
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int chdir(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The
chdir()
function shall cause the directory named by the pathname pointed to
by the
path
argument to become the current working directory; that is, the starting
point for path searches for pathnames not beginning with
'/'.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, 0 shall be returned. Otherwise, -1 shall
be returned, the current working directory shall remain unchanged, and
errno
shall be set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The
chdir()
function shall fail if:
- EACCES
-
Search permission is denied for any component of the pathname.
- ELOOP
-
A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the
path
argument.
- ENAMETOOLONG
-
The length of a component of a pathname is longer than
{NAME_MAX}.
- ENOENT
-
A component of
path
does not name an existing directory or
path
is an empty string.
- ENOTDIR
-
A component of the pathname names an existing file that is neither
a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory.
The
chdir()
function may fail if:
- ELOOP
-
More than
{SYMLOOP_MAX}
symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the
path
argument.
- ENAMETOOLONG
-
The length of a pathname exceeds
{PATH_MAX},
or pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate
result with a length that exceeds
{PATH_MAX}.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Changing the Current Working Directory
The following example makes the value pointed to by
directory,
/tmp,
the current working directory.
-
#include <unistd.h>
...
char *directory = "/tmp";
int ret;
ret = chdir (directory);
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
RATIONALE
The
chdir()
function only affects the working directory of the current process.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
getcwd()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017,
<unistd.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition,
Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear
in this page are most likely
to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to
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https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .