opendarwin man page for chflags

CHFLAGS(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						CHFLAGS(1)

NAME
     chflags -- change file flags

SYNOPSIS
     chflags [-R [-H | -L | -P]] flags file ...

DESCRIPTION
     The chflags utility modifies the file flags of the listed files as specified by the flags operand.

     The options are as follows:

     -H      If the -R option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed.  (Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal
	     are not followed.)

     -L      If the -R option is specified, all symbolic links are followed.

     -P      If the -R option is specified, no symbolic links are followed.  This is the default.

     -R      Change the file flags for the file hierarchies rooted in the files instead of just the files themselves.

     The flags are specified as an octal number or a comma separated list of keywords.	The following keywords are currently defined:

	   arch    set the archived flag (super-user only)
	   opaque  set the opaque flag (owner or super-user only)
	   nodump  set the nodump flag (owner or super-user only)
	   sappnd  set the system append-only flag (super-user only)
	   schg    set the system immutable flag (super-user only)
	   sunlnk  set the system undeletable flag (super-user only)
	   uappnd  set the user append-only flag (owner or super-user only)
	   uchg    set the user immutable flag (owner or super-user only)
	   uunlnk  set the user undeletable flag (owner or super-user only)
	   archived, sappend, schange, simmutable, uappend, uchange, uimmutable, sunlink, uunlink
		   aliases for the above

     Putting the letters ``no'' before an option causes the flag to be turned off.  For example:

	   nouchg  the immutable bit should be cleared

     Symbolic links do not have flags, so unless the -H or -L option is set, chflags on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect.  The
     -H, -L and -P options are ignored unless the -R option is specified.  In addition, these options override each other and the command's
     actions are determined by the last one specified.

     You can use "ls -lo" to see the flags of existing files.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The chflags utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO
     ls(1), chflags(2), stat(2), fts(3), symlink(7)

HISTORY
     The chflags command first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BSD
								    May 2, 1995 							       BSD