chdir(2)

NAME
chdir, fchdir - change working directory

LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>

int chdir(const char *path);
int fchdir(int fd);

    Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

fchdir():
    _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
        || /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
        || /* glibc up to and including 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
chdir() changes the current working directory of the calling process to the directory specified in path.

fchdir() is identical to chdir(); the only difference is that the directory is given as an open file descriptor.

RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
Depending on the filesystem, other errors can be returned. The more general errors for chdir() are listed below:

EACCES
    Search permission is denied for one of the components of path. (See also path_resolution(7).)

EFAULT
    path points outside your accessible address space.

EIO An I/O error occurred.

ELOOP
    Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving path.

ENAMETOOLONG
    path is too long.

ENOENT
    The directory specified in path does not exist.

ENOMEM
    Insufficient kernel memory was available.

ENOTDIR
    A component of path is not a directory.

The general errors for fchdir() are listed below:

EACCES
    Search permission was denied on the directory open on fd.

EBADF
    fd is not a valid file descriptor.

ENOTDIR
    fd does not refer to a directory.

STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2024.

HISTORY

chdir()
    SVr4, POSIX.1-1988, 4.4BSD.

fchdir()
    SVr4, 4.4BSD, SUSv1, POSIX.1-2001 XSI, POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES
The current working directory is the starting point for interpreting relative pathnames (those not starting with '/').

A child process created via fork(2) inherits its parent's current working directory. The current working directory is left unchanged by execve(2).

SEE ALSO
chroot(2), getcwd(3), path_resolution(7)