.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)chown.8 8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8,v 1.20 2002/07/14 14:42:43 charnier Exp $ .\" .Dd March 31, 1994 .Dt CHOWN 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm chown .Nd change file owner and group .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm chown .Op Fl fhv .Oo .Fl R .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P .Oc .Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group .Ar .Nm chown .Op Fl fhv .Oo .Fl R .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P .Oc .No : Ns Ar group .Ar .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm 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 .Fl h is used. .Pp The options are as follows: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Fl f Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify the exit status to reflect such failures. .It Fl H If the .Fl R option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. (Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.) .It Fl h If the file is a symbolic link, change the user ID and/or the group ID of the link itself. .It Fl L If the .Fl R option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. .It Fl P If the .Fl R option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. Instead, the user and/or group ID of the link itself are modified. This is the default. .It Fl R Change the user ID and/or the group ID for the file hierarchies rooted in the files instead of just the files themselves. .It Fl v Cause .Nm chown to be verbose, showing files as the owner is modified. .El .Pp The .Fl H , .Fl L and .Fl P options are ignored unless the .Fl R option is specified. In addition, these options override each other and the command's actions are determined by the last one specified. .Pp The .Ar owner and .Ar group operands are both optional; however, at least one must be specified. If the .Ar group operand is specified, it must be preceded by a colon (``:'') character. .Pp The .Ar 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 .Ar 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. .Pp For obvious security reasons, the ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user. Similarly, only a member of a group can change a file's group ID to that group. .Sh DIAGNOSTICS .Ex -std .Sh COMPATIBILITY Previous versions of the .Nm 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. .Pp On previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have owners. .Pp The .Fl v option is non-standard and its use in scripts is not recommended. .Sh LEGACY DESCRIPTION In legacy mode, the .Fl R and .Fl RP options do not change the user ID or the group ID of symbolic links. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr chgrp 1 , .Xr find 1 , .Xr chown 2 , .Xr fts 3 , .Xr compat 5 , .Xr symlink 7 .Sh STANDARDS The .Nm chown utility is expected to be .St -p1003.2 compliant. .Sh HISTORY A .Nm chown utility appeared in .At v1 .