chdir(2) - NetBSD Manual Pages

CHDIR(2)                  NetBSD System Calls Manual                  CHDIR(2)


NAME

     chdir, fchdir -- change current working directory


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     chdir(const char *path);

     int
     fchdir(int fd);


DESCRIPTION

     The path argument points to the pathname of a directory.  The chdir()
     function causes the named directory to become the current working direc-
     tory, 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 path-
     names 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

     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

     chdir() 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 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.

     [ELOOP]            Too many symbolic links were encountered in translat-
                        ing the pathname.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} charac-
                        ters, or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} char-
                        acters.

     [ENOENT]           The named directory does not exist.

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

     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 refer-
                        enced by the file descriptor.

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

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

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


SEE ALSO

     chroot(2), getcwd(3)


STANDARDS

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


HISTORY

     A chdir() function call appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.  The fchdir()
     function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

NetBSD 9.1                     September 1, 2019                    NetBSD 9.1