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.\"     from: @(#)chown.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: February 8 2009 $
.Dt CHOWN 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm chown
.Nd change file owner and group
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm chown
.Op Fl fh
.Oo
.Fl R
.Op Fl H | L | P
.Oc
.Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group
.Ar
.Nm chown
.Op Fl fh
.Oo
.Fl R
.Op Fl H | L | P
.Oc
.Pf : Ns Ar group
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
sets the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.
.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
Change the user ID and/or the group ID on symbolic links.
The
.Fl R
and
.Fl h
options are mutually exclusive.
.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.
.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.
.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, one must be specified.
If the
.Ar group
operand is specified, it must be preceded by a colon
.Pq Sq \&:
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
By default,
.Nm
clears the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on the file
to prevent accidental or mischievous creation of
set-user-ID and set-group-ID programs.
This behaviour can be overridden by setting the
.Xr sysctl 8
variable
.Va fs.posix.setuid
to zero.
.Pp
Only the superuser is permitted to change the owner of a file.
.Pp
.Ex -std chown
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chgrp 1 ,
.Xr find 1 ,
.Xr chown 2 ,
.Xr fts 3 ,
.Xr symlink 7
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
utility is compliant with the
.St -p1003.1-2008
specification.
.Pp
The flag
.Op Fl f
is an extension to that specification.
.Pp
Previous versions of the
.Nm
utility used the dot
.Pq Sq \&.
character to distinguish the group name.
This has been changed to be a colon
.Pq Sq \&:
character so that user and
group names may contain the dot character.