RENAME(2) COMMAND REFERENCE RENAME(2) NAME rename - change the name of a file SYNOPSIS rename(from, to) char *from, *to; DESCRIPTION Rename causes the link named from to be renamed as to. If to exists, then it is first removed. Both from and to must be of the same type (that is, both directories or both non- directories), and must reside on the same file system. Rename guarantees that an instance of to will always exist, even if the system should crash in the middle of the operation. DIAGNOSTICS Rename will fail and neither of the argument files will be affected if any of the following are true: [ENOASCII] Either pathname contains a byte with the high-order bit set. [ENAMETOOLONG] The argument from or to is too long. [ENOTDIR] A component of either path prefix is not a directory. [ENOENT] A component of either path prefix does not exist. [EACCES] A component of either path prefix denies search permission. [ENOENT] The file named by from does not exist. [ENOSPC] The directory in which the entry for the new name is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory. [EXDEV] The link named by to and the file named by from are on different logical devices (file systems). Note that this error code will not be returned if the implementation permits cross-device links. [EINVAL] From is ``.'' or ``..'', or the parent of from is the same as from. [ENOTEMPTY] To exists, and is a non-empty directory. Printed 4/6/89 1
RENAME(2) COMMAND REFERENCE RENAME(2) [ENOTDIR] From is not a directory, but to is. [EISDIR] From is a directory, but to is not. [EEXIST] From is an ancestor of to (allowing this would make to the ancestor of from and would make a loop). [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating a pathname. [EACCES] The requested link requires writing in a directory with a mode that denies write permission. [EROFS] The requested link requires writing in a directory on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] Path points outside the process's allocated address space. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while accessing the file system. RETURN VALUE Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. CAVEATS The system can deadlock if a loop in the file system graph is present. This loop takes the form of an entry in directory "a", say "a/foo", being a hard link to directory "b", and an entry in directory "b", say "b/bar", being a hard link to directory "a". When such a loop exists and two separate processes attempt to perform "rename a/foo b/bar" and "rename b/bar a/foo", respectively, the system may deadlock attempting to lock both directories for modification. Hard links to directories should be replaced by symbolic links by the system administrator. SEE ALSO open(2). Printed 4/6/89 2
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