.\"	$OpenBSD: chflags.1,v 1.13 2010/09/03 09:53:20 jmc Exp $
.\"	$NetBSD: chflags.1,v 1.4 1995/08/31 22:50:22 jtc Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994
.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
.\"
.\" 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
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.\" 3. 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.
.\"
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\"
.\"	@(#)chflags.1	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/2/95
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: September 3 2010 $
.Dt CHFLAGS 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm chflags
.Nd change file flags
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm chflags
.Oo
.Fl R
.Op Fl H | L | P
.Oc
.Ar flags
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility modifies the file flags of the listed files
as specified by the
.Ar flags
operand.
The
.Ar flags
of a file dictate special restrictions beyond those enforced by its
mode/permissions.
Only the superuser can change the user flags on block and
character devices.
.Pp
You can use
.Ic ls -lo
to see the flags of existing files.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl H
If the
.Fl R
option is also specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed.
(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.)
.It Fl L
If the
.Fl R
option is also specified, all symbolic links are followed.
.It Fl P
If the
.Fl R
option is also specified, no symbolic links are followed.
.It Fl R
Recursively descend through any specified directory arguments.
Change the flags of the file hierarchies rooted
in the files instead of just the files themselves.
.El
.Pp
Flags are a comma separated list of keywords.
The following keywords are currently defined:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
arch	set the archived flag (superuser only)
nodump	set the nodump flag (owner or superuser only)
sappnd	set the system append-only flag (superuser only)
schg	set the system immutable flag (superuser only)
uappnd	set the user append-only flag (owner or superuser only)
uchg	set the user immutable flag (owner or superuser only)
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Dq arch
flag is for compatibility only,
and currently has no effect.
.Pp
A file with the
.Dq nodump
flag set will by default only be backed up by
.Xr dump 8
during full backups.
The
.Fl h
option of
.Xr dump 8
can be used to alter this.
.Pp
An immutable file may not be changed, moved, or deleted.
An append-only file is immutable except that data may be appended to it.
.Pp
The
superuser-settable
.Dq sappnd
and
.Dq schg
flags can be set at any time, but may only be cleared when the system is
running at security level 0 or \-1
(insecure or permanently insecure mode, respectively).
For more information on setting the system security level,
see
.Xr securelevel 7 .
.Pp
Putting the letters
.Dq no
before a flag name causes the flag to be turned off.
For example:
.Pp
.Dl nouchg	the immutable bit should be cleared
.Pp
Symbolic links do not have flags, so unless the
.Fl H
or
.Fl L
option is set,
.Nm
on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect.
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.
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Ex -std chflags
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ls 1 ,
.Xr chflags 2 ,
.Xr stat 2 ,
.Xr fts 3 ,
.Xr securelevel 7 ,
.Xr symlink 7 ,
.Xr dump 8
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command first appeared in
.Bx 4.4 .