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.
chdir — change working directory
#include <unistd.h>
int chdir(const char * path);
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
'/'.
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.
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.
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);
None.
The
chdir() function only affects the working directory of the current
process.
None.
getcwd()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017,
<unistd.h>
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 man page
format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .