chown
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![]() The chown command | |
Developer(s) | AT&T Bell Laboratories |
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Initial release | November 3, 1971 |
Operating system | Unix and Unix-like |
Type | Command |
The command chown, an abbreviation of change owner, is used on Unix and Unix-like operating systems to change the owner of file system files, directories. Unprivileged (regular) users who wish to change the group membership of a file that they own may use chgrp.
The ownership of any file in the system may only be altered by a super-user. A user cannot give away ownership of a file, even when the user owns it. Similarly, only a member of a group can change a file's group ID to that group.[1]
Syntax
chown name_of_new_owner file_name
chown newuser:newgroup file_name
See also
References
External links
- The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group – Shell and Utilities Reference,
- chown manual page
- The chown Command by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)