NAME

     chown - change file owner and group


SYNOPSIS

     chown [options] user[:group

     POSIX options:  [-R]

     GNU options (shortest form):  [-cfhvR] [--help]  [--version]
     [--]


DESCRIPTION

     chown changes the user and/or group ownership of each  given
     file  as  specified by the first non-option argument as fol-
     lows: if only 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 user name  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.


GNU DETAILS

     The GNU version allows a dot instead of a  colon  (following
     BSD).  [This was not allowed by POSIX since a dot is a valid
     character in a user name.]  If a colon or dot 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  or dot and group are
     given, but the user name is omitted, only the group  of  the
     files  is  changed;  in  this  case, chown performs the same
     function as chgrp.


POSIX OPTIONS

     -R   Recursively change ownership of directories  and  their
          contents.


GNU OPTIONS

     -c, --changes
          Verbosely describe the action for each file whose  own-
          ership actually changes.

     -f, --silent, --quiet
          Do not print error messages about files whose ownership
          cannot be changed.

     -h, --no-dereference
          Act on symbolic links themselves instead of  what  they
          point  to.  Only available if the lchown system call is
          provided.

     -v, --verbose
          Verbosely describe the action (or non-action) taken for
          every file.

     -R, --recursive
          Recursively change ownership of directories  and  their
          contents.


GNU STANDARD OPTIONS

     --help
          Print a usage message on standard output and exit  suc-
          cessfully.

     --version
          Print version information on standard output, then exit
          successfully.

     --   Terminate option list.


ENVIRONMENT

     The variables LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE  and  LC_MESSAGES  have
     the usual meaning.


CONFORMING TO

     POSIX 1003.2 does not allow use  of  the  dot  as  separator
     between user name and group name.


NOTES

     This page describes chown as  found  in  the  fileutils-3.16
     package;  other  versions  may differ slightly. Mail correc-
     tions and additions to aeb@cwi.nl  and  aw@mail1.bet1.puv.fi
     and  ragnar@lightside.ddns.org .  Report bugs in the program
     to fileutils-bugs@gnu.ai.mit.edu.