NAME

getcwd − get pathname of current working directory

SYNOPSIS

char ∗getcwd (buf, size)
char ∗buf;
int size;

DESCRIPTION

getcwd() returns a pointer to the current directory pathname.  The value of size must be at least two greater than the length of the pathname to be returned. 

If buf is a NULL pointer, getcwd() will obtain size bytes of space using malloc(3).  In this case, the pointer returned by getcwd() may be used as the argument in a subsequent call to free. 

The function is implemented by using popen(3S) to pipe the output of the pwd(1) command into the specified string space. 

EXAMPLE

char ∗cwd, ∗getcwd();
.
.
.
if ((cwd = getcwd((char ∗)NULL, 64)) == NULL) {

perror (“pwd”);
exit (1);

}
printf(“%s\n”, cwd);

SEE ALSO

malloc(3), popen(3S), pwd(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

Returns NULL with errno set if size is not large enough, or if an error ocurrs in a lower-level function. 

BUGS

Since this function uses popen() to create a pipe to the pwd command, it is slower than getwd() and gives poorer error diagnostics.  getcwd() is provided only for compatibility with other UNIX operating systems. 

Sun Release 4.0  —  Last change: 22 November 1987