SetCurrentDirectory

The SetCurrentDirectory function changes the current directory for the current process.

BOOL SetCurrentDirectory(
  LPCTSTR lpPathName   // new directory name
);

Parameters

lpPathName

[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the path to the new current directory. This parameter may be a relative path or a full path. In either case, the full path of the specified directory is calculated and stored as the current directory.

Windows NT/2000: In the ANSI version of this function, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to nearly 32,000 wide characters, call the Unicode version of the function and prepend "\\?\" to the path. For more information, see File Name Conventions.

Windows 95/98: This string must not exceed MAX_PATH characters.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

Each process has a single current directory made up of two parts:

• A disk designator that is either a drive letter followed by a colon, or a server name and share name (\\servername\sharename)
• A directory on the disk designator

Requirements

  Windows NT/2000: Requires Windows NT 3.1 or later.
  Windows 95/98: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Header: Declared in Winbase.h; include Windows.h.
  Library: Use Kernel32.lib.
  Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions on Windows NT/2000.

See Also

File I/O Overview, File I/O Functions, GetCurrentDirectory