chown(8) [opendarwin man page]

CHOWN(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						  CHOWN(8)

NAME

     chown -- change file owner and group

SYNOPSIS

     chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
     chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...

DESCRIPTION

     The chown utility changes the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.	Symbolic links named by arguments are silently left
     unchanged unless -h is used.

     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 user ID and/or the group ID for the file hierarchies rooted in the files instead of just the files themselves.

     -f      Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify the exit status to reflect such failures.

     -h      If the file is a symbolic link, change the user ID and/or the group ID of the link itself.

     -v      Cause chown to be verbose, showing files as the owner is modified.

     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.

     The owner and group operands are both optional, however, one must be specified.  If the group operand is specified, it must be preceded by a
     colon (``:'') character.

     The owner may be either a numeric user ID or a user name.	If a user name is also a numeric user ID, the operand is used as a user name.  The
     group may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.  If a group name is also a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a group name.

     The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user for obvious security reasons.

DIAGNOSTICS

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

COMPATIBILITY

     Previous versions of the chown utility used the dot (``.'') character to distinguish the group name.  This has been changed to be a colon
     (``:'') character so that user and group names may contain the dot character.

     On previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have owners.

     The -v option is non-standard and its use in scripts is not recommended.

SEE ALSO

     chgrp(1), find(1), chown(2), fts(3), symlink(7)

STANDARDS

     The chown utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compliant.

HISTORY

     A chown utility appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BSD
								  March 31, 1994							       BSD

Check Out this Related Man Page

CHGRP(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						  CHGRP(1)

NAME

     chgrp -- change group

SYNOPSIS

     chgrp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fhv] group file ...

DESCRIPTION

     The chgrp utility sets the group ID of the file named by each file operand to the group ID specified by the group operand.

     Options:

     -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.

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

     -f      The force option ignores errors, except for usage errors and doesn't query about strange modes (unless the user does not have proper
	     permissions).

     -h      If file is a symbolic link, the group of the link is changed.

     -v      Cause chgrp to be verbose, showing files as they are processed.

     If -h is not given, unless the -H or -L option is set, chgrp 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.

     The group operand can be either a group name from the group database, or a numeric group ID.  Since it is valid to have a group name that is
     numeric (and doesn't have the numeric ID that matches its name) the name lookup is always done first.  Preceding the ID with a ``#'' charac-
     ter will force it to be taken as a number.

     The user invoking chgrp must belong to the specified group and be the owner of the file, or be the super-user.

     Unless invoked by the super-user, chgrp clears the set-user-id and set-group-id bits on a file to prevent accidental or mischievous creation
     of set-user-id or set-group-id programs.

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

FILES

     /etc/group  Group ID file

SEE ALSO

     chown(2), lchown(2), fts(3), group(5), passwd(5), symlink(7), chown(8)

STANDARDS

     The chgrp utility is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compatible.

     The -v option and the use of ``#'' to force a numeric group ID are extensions to IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'').

BSD
								September 25, 2003							       BSD

Linux and UNIX Man Pages

chown(8) [opendarwin man page]

Check Out this Related Man Page