xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/chdir.2 (revision c2f76ff004a2cb67efe5b12d97bd3ef7fe89e18d)
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30.\"     @(#)chdir.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
31.\"
32.Dd December 11, 1993
33.Dt CHDIR 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm chdir ,
37.Nm fchdir
38.Nd change current working directory
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libc
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In unistd.h
43.Ft int
44.Fn chdir "const char *path"
45.Ft int
46.Fn fchdir "int fd"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fa path
50argument points to the pathname of a directory.
51The
52.Fn chdir
53function
54causes the named directory
55to become the current working directory, that is,
56the starting point for path searches of pathnames not beginning with
57a slash,
58.Ql / .
59.Pp
60The
61.Fn fchdir
62function
63causes the directory referenced by
64.Fa fd
65to become the current working directory,
66the starting point for path searches of pathnames not beginning with
67a slash,
68.Ql / .
69.Pp
70In order for a directory to become the current directory,
71a process must have execute (search) access to the directory.
72.Sh RETURN VALUES
73Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.
74Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
75.Va errno
76is set to indicate
77the error.
78.Sh ERRORS
79.Fn chdir
80will fail and the current working directory will be unchanged if
81one or more of the following are true:
82.Bl -tag -width Er
83.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
84A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
85.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
86A component of a pathname exceeded
87.Brq Dv NAME_MAX
88characters, or an entire path name exceeded
89.Brq Dv PATH_MAX
90characters.
91.It Bq Er ENOENT
92The named directory does not exist.
93.It Bq Er ELOOP
94Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
95.It Bq Er EACCES
96Search permission is denied for any component of
97the path name.
98.It Bq Er EFAULT
99.Fa path
100points outside the process's allocated address space.
101.It Bq Er EIO
102An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
103.El
104.Pp
105.Fn fchdir
106will fail and the current working directory will be unchanged if
107one or more of the following are true:
108.Bl -tag -width Er
109.It Bq Er EACCES
110Search permission is denied for the directory referenced by the
111file descriptor.
112.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
113The file descriptor does not reference a directory.
114.It Bq Er EBADF
115The argument
116.Fa fd
117is not a valid file descriptor.
118.It Bq Er EPERM
119The argument
120.Fa fd
121references a directory which is not at or below the current process's
122root directory.
123.El
124.Sh SEE ALSO
125.Xr chroot 2
126.Sh STANDARDS
127The
128.Fn chdir
129function conforms to
130.St -p1003.1-90 .
131.Sh HISTORY
132The
133.Fn fchdir
134function call
135appeared in
136.Bx 4.2 .
137