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.\"     from: @(#)chown.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94
.\"
.Dd January 25, 1997
.Dt CHOWN 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm chown
.Nd change file owner and group
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm chown
.Oo
.Fl R
.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
.Oc
.Op Fl f
.Op Fl h
.Ar ownerof Op Ar :group
.Ar file Op Ar ...
.Nm chown
.Oo
.Fl R
.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
.Oc
.Op Fl f
.Op Fl h
.Ar :group
.Ar file Op Ar ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm chown
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 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 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.
.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
Change the user ID and/or the group ID on symbolic links.
The
.Fl R
and
.Fl h
options are mutually exclusive.
.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
The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user for
obvious security reasons.
.Pp
The
.Nm chown
utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
Previous versions of the
.Nm chown
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.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chgrp 1 ,
.Xr find 1 ,
.Xr chown 2 ,
.Xr fts 3 ,
.Xr symlink 7
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm chown
command is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compliant.