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28 .\" @(#)chown.8 8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94
29 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8,v 1.10.2.7 2003/03/12 22:08:13 trhodes Exp $
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37 .Nd change file owner and group
41 .Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group
47 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
49 .Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group
59 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
66 utility changes the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.
67 Symbolic links named by arguments are silently left unchanged unless
71 The options are as follows:
76 option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed.
77 (Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.)
81 option is specified, all symbolic links are followed.
85 option is specified, no symbolic links are followed.
88 Change the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified directory trees
89 (recursively, including their contents) and files.
90 Beware of unintentionally matching the
92 hard link to the parent directory when using wildcards like
95 Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify
96 the exit status to reflect such failures.
98 If the file is a symbolic link, change the user ID and/or the
99 group ID of the link itself.
103 to be verbose, showing files as the owner is modified.
106 flag is specified more than once,
108 will print the filename, followed by the old and new numeric user/group ID.
116 options are ignored unless the
119 In addition, these options override each other and the
120 command's actions are determined by the last one specified.
126 operands are both optional, however, one must be specified.
129 operand is specified, it must be preceded by a colon (``:'') character.
133 may be either a numeric user ID or a user name.
134 If a user name is also a numeric user ID, the operand is used as a
138 may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.
139 If a group name is also a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a
142 The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user for
143 obvious security reasons.
147 Previous versions of the
149 utility used the dot (``.'') character to distinguish the group name.
150 This has been changed to be a colon (``:'') character so that user and
151 group names may contain the dot character.
153 On previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have
158 option is non-standard and its use in scripts is not recommended.
175 use is an extension to the standard.