freebsd man page for chgrp

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

NAME
     chgrp -- change group

SYNOPSIS
     chgrp [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] 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.

     The following options are available:

     -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 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 does not query about strange modes (unless the user does not have proper
	     permissions).

     -h      If the file is a symbolic link, the group ID of the link itself is changed rather than the file that is pointed to.

     -v      Cause chgrp to be verbose, showing files as the group is modified.  If the -v flag is specified more than once, chgrp will print the
	     filename, followed by the old and new numeric group ID.

     -x      File system mount points are not traversed.

     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.  If a group name is also a numeric group ID, the
     operand is used as a group name.

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

FILES
     /etc/group  group ID file

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

COMPATIBILITY
     In previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have groups.

     The -v and -x options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended.

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

STANDARDS
     The chgrp utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compatible.

BSD
								 February 21, 2010							       BSD