CHOWN(1)                         User Commands
CHOWN(1)



NNAAMMEE
       chown - change file owner and group

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       cchhoowwnn [_O_P_T_I_O_N]...
       [_O_W_N_E_R][_:[_G_R_O_U_P]]
       _F_I_L_E...  cchhoowwnn [_O_P_T_I_O_N]...
       _-_-_r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_=_R_F_I_L_E
       _F_I_L_E...

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       This manual page documents the GNU version of
       cchhoowwnn.  cchhoowwnn changes the user
       and/or group ownership of each given file.  If only
       an  owner  (a user  name or numeric user ID) is given,
       that user is made the owner of each given file, and the
       files' group is not changed.  If the owner  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.  If a colon 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  group.   If the colon and group
       are given, but the owner is omitted, only the group
       of the files is changed; in this case, cchhoowwnn
       performs  the same function as cchhggrrpp.  If only
       a colon is given, or if the entire operand is empty,
       neither the owner nor the  group  is changed.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER
       and/or GROUP.  With ----rreeffeerreennccee,
       change the owner and group of each FILE to those
       of RFILE.

       --cc, ----cchhaannggeess
              like verbose but report only when a change
              is made

       ----ddeerreeffeerreennccee
              affect the referent of each symbolic link
              (this is the default), rather than the symbolic
              link itself

       --hh, ----nnoo--ddeerreeffeerreennccee
              affect each symbolic link instead of any
              referenced file (useful only on systems that
              can change the ownership of a symlink)

       ----ffrroomm=_C_U_R_R_E_N_T___O_W_N_E_R:CURRENT_GROUP
              change the owner and/or group of each file only
              if  its  current owner  and/or  group  match
              those specified here.  Either may be omitted,
              in which case a match is not required for  the
              omitted attribute.

       ----nnoo--pprreesseerrvvee--rroooott
              do not treat `/' specially (the default)

       ----pprreesseerrvvee--rroooott
              fail to operate recursively on `/'

       --ff, ----ssiilleenntt, ----qquuiieett
              suppress most error messages

       ----rreeffeerreennccee=_R_F_I_L_E
              use  RFILE's  owner and group rather than
              specifying OWNER:GROUP values

       --RR, ----rreeccuurrssiivvee
              operate on files and directories recursively

       --vv, ----vveerrbboossee
              output a diagnostic for every file processed

       The following options modify how a hierarchy is
       traversed when  the  --RR option  is  also  specified.
       If  more than one is specified, only the final one
       takes effect.

       --HH     if a command line argument is a symbolic
       link  to  a  directory,
              traverse it

       --LL     traverse every symbolic link to a directory
       encountered

       --PP     do not traverse any symbolic links (default)

       ----hheellpp display this help and exit

       ----vveerrssiioonn
              output version information and exit

       Owner  is  unchanged  if  missing.   Group is unchanged
       if missing, but changed to login group if implied by a
       `:' following a symbolic  OWNER.  OWNER and GROUP may
       be numeric as well as symbolic.

EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
       chown root /u
              Change the owner of /u to "root".

       chown root:staff /u
              Likewise, but also change its group to "staff".

       chown --hhRR root /u
              Change the owner of /u and subfiles to "root".

AAUUTTHHOORR
       Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

RREEPPOORRTTIINNGG BBUUGGSS
       Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       Copyright © 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This  is  free  software.   You may redistribute
       copies of it under the terms      of      the
       GNU      General       Public       License
       <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.   There  is
       NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       chown(2)

       The full documentation for cchhoowwnn is
       maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the  iinnffoo
       and  cchhoowwnn programs are properly installed
       at your site, the command

              iinnffoo cchhoowwnn

       should give you access to the complete manual.



chown 6.7                        December 2006
CHOWN(1)
