How does chdir work

To verify the changes due to the above two functions, we use getcwd function of C. It contains the chdir and fchdir functions. For further reference see here. The chdir function is used to change the current working directory of the program or process by passing the path to the function as shown in the syntax. Return value : The function return a integer value ,it returns 0 if the change of directory was successful otherwise it returns -1 and the current working directory remains unchanged and errno is set to to indicate the error type.

The fchdir function is similar to the chdir function but in this we pass a file descriptor as the function parameter. A file descriptor is a number that uniquely identifies an open file in a computer's operating system. It describes a data resource, and how that resource may be accessed. Asked 2 years, 6 months ago. Active 2 years, 6 months ago.

Viewed 6k times. Here are the two cases where I'm using chdir : 1. How do you determine that "your directories aren't changing"?

Are you expecting it to change the directory of the shell you're in? If so, searching the web will help you out. How do you check that the cwd isn't changed? You realize that chdir "only" changes the cwd for the process that calls it? You cannot write cd as an external utility. If you are writing a whole shell, you must avoid fork ing first — that other guy. Show 10 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. So when you have code like Daniel Jour Daniel Jour Gotcha, thanks for spelling this out.

If successful, chdir returns a value of zero. On failure, it returns -1 and sets errno to the one of the following:. Windows supports multiple root directories, one for each drive, and also maintains a current working directory on each drive.