GETCWD Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3) Updated: 21 July 2025 Index   NAME getcwd, get_current_dir_name, getwd - Get current working directory   SYNOPSIS #include <unistd.h> char *getcwd(char *buf, size_t size); char *get_current_dir_name(void); char *getwd(char *buf);   DESCRIPTION The getcwd() function copies the absolute pathname of the current working directory to the array pointed to by buf, which is of length size. If the current absolute path name would require a buffer longer than size elements, NULL is returned, and errno is set to ERANGE; an application should check for this error, and allocate a larger buffer if necessary. As an extension to the POSIX.1 standard, getcwd() allocates the buffer dynamically using malloc() if buf is NULL on call. In this case, the allocated buffer has the length size unless size is less than zero, when buf is allocated as big as necessary. It is possible (and, indeed, advisable) to free() the buffers if they have been obtained this way. get_current_dir_name, which is only prototyped if __USE_GNU is defined, will an array big enough to hold the current directory name. If the environment variable PWD is set, and its value is correct, then that value will be returned. getwd, which is only prototyped if __USE_BSD is defined, will not any memory. The buf argument should be a pointer to an array at least PATH_MAX bytes long. getwd does only return the first PATH_MAX bytes of the actual pathname.   RETURN VALUE NULL on failure (for example, if the current directory is not readable), with errno set accordingly, and buf on success.   CONFORMING TO POSIX.1   SEE ALSO   Index NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION RETURN VALUE CONFORMING TO SEE ALSO This document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 11:58:03 GMT, March 24, 2025