CHOWN(1) CHOWN(1)
NAME
chown(1,2) - change file(1,n) owner and group
SYNOPSIS
chown(1,2) [options] user[:group] file...
POSIX options: [-R] [--]
GNU options (shortest form): [-cfhvR] [--dereference] [--refer-
ence=rfile] [--help] [--version] [--]
DESCRIPTION
chown(1,2) changes the user and/or group ownership of each given file(1,n) as
specified by the first non-option argument as follows: if(3,n) only a user
name (or numeric user ID) is given, that user is made the owner of each
given file(1,n), and the files' group is not changed. If the user name is
followed by a colon and a group name (or numeric group ID), with no
spaces between them, the group ownership of the files is changed as
well.
GNU DETAILS
The GNU version(1,3,5) allows a dot instead of a colon (following BSD). [This
was not allowed by POSIX since a dot is a valid character in(1,8) a user
name.] If a colon or dot but no group name follows the user name, that
user is made the owner of the files and the group of the files is
changed to that user's login(1,3,5) group. If the colon or dot and group are
given, but the user name is omitted, only the group of the files is
changed; in(1,8) this case, chown(1,2) performs the same function as chgrp.
POSIX OPTIONS
-R Recursively change ownership of directories and their contents.
-- Terminate option list.
GNU OPTIONS
-c, --changes
Verbosely describe the action for each file(1,n) whose ownership
actually changes.
-f, --silent, --quiet
Do not print error(8,n) messages about files whose ownership cannot
be changed.
-h, --no-dereference
Act on symbolic links themselves instead of what they point to.
Only available if(3,n) the lchown system call is provided.
-v, --verbose
Verbosely describe the action (or non-action) taken for every
file(1,n).
-R, --recursive
Recursively change ownership of directories and their contents.
--dereference
Change the ownership of the target of a symbolic link(1,2) instead of
the symbolic link(1,2) itself. (New in(1,8) fileutils-4.0.)
--reference=rfile
(New in(1,8) fileutils 4.0.) Change the ownership of file(1,n) to that of
rfile.
GNU STANDARD OPTIONS
--help Print a usage message on standard output and exit(3,n,1 builtins) successfully.
--version
Print version(1,3,5) information on standard output, then exit(3,n,1 builtins) success-
fully.
-- Terminate option list.
ENVIRONMENT
The variables LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and LC_MESSAGES have the usual
meaning.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX 1003.2 does not allow use of the dot as separator between user
name and group name.
NOTES
This page describes chown(1,2) as found in(1,8) the fileutils-4.0 package; other
versions may differ slightly.
GNU fileutils 4.0 1998-11 CHOWN(1)