RENAMEAT

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (2)
Updated: 2009-12-13
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

renameat - rename a file relative to directory file descriptors

SYNOPSIS

#include <fcntl.h>           /* Definition of AT_* constants */
#include <stdio.h>

int renameat(int olddirfd, const char *oldpath,
             int newdirfd, const char *newpath);

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

renameat():

Since glibc 2.10:: _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
Before glibc 2.10:: _ATFILE_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

The renameat() system call operates in exactly the same way as rename(2), except for the differences described in this manual page.

If the pathname given in oldpath is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor olddirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling process, as is done by rename(2) for a relative pathname).

If oldpath is relative and olddirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then oldpath is interpreted relative to the current working directory of the calling process (like rename(2)).

If oldpath is absolute, then olddirfd is ignored.

The interpretation of newpath is as for oldpath, except that a relative pathname is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor newdirfd.

RETURN VALUE

On success, renameat() returns 0. On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

The same errors that occur for rename(2) can also occur for renameat(). The following additional errors can occur for renameat():

EBADF: olddirfd or newdirfd is not a valid file descriptor.
ENOTDIR: oldpath is relative and olddirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory; or similar for newpath and newdirfd

VERSIONS

renameat() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16.

CONFORMING TO

POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES

See openat(2) for an explanation of the need for renameat().

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.27 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 19:49:19 GMT, April 27, 2011