chgrp(1) — Commands
NAME
chgrp − Changes the group ownership of a file or directory
SYNOPSIS
chgrp [−fhR] group file
The chgrp command changes the group associated with the specified file or directory to group.
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
chgrp: XPG4, XPG4−UNIX
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
FLAGS
−f[Digital] Suppresses all error reporting.
−h[Digital] If file is a symbolic link, the command chgrp −h file changes the group of the symbolic link. The command chgrp file changes the group of the file referenced by the symbolic link.
−RCauses chgrp to descend recursively through its directory arguments, setting the specified group ID.
PARAMETERS
groupA group name from the group database or a numeric group ID. Either specifies a group ID to be given to each file named by one of the file parameters. If a numeric group parameter exists in the group database as a group name, the group ID number associated with that group name is used as the group ID.
fileA pathname of a file whose group ID is to be modified.
DESCRIPTION
To change the group ID of a file, you must have superuser privilege or your effective user ID must match the owner ID of the file. If you do not have superuser privilege you can change the group ID of a file only to your effective group ID or to the value of a group of which you are a member.
The group argument must be either a valid group name or a valid group ID that exists in the group database.
For each file operand, the chgrp command performs actions equivalent to the chown() function called with the following arguments:
•The file parameter is used as the path argument.
•The user ID of the file is used as the owner argument.
•The specified group ID is used as the group argument.
Unless the chgrp command is invoked by a process with appropriate privileges, the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of a file are cleared upon successful completion.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the execution of chgrp:
LANGProvides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used. If any of the internationalization variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.
LC_ALLIf set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_CTYPEDetermines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments).
LC_MESSAGESDetermines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
NLSPATHDetermines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.
NOTES
1.If the chgrp command is invoked with the -R flag and attempts but fails to change the group ID of a particular file in a specified file hierarchy, it continues to process the remaining files in the hierarchy.
2.If the chgrp command cannot read or search a directory within a hierarchy, it continues to process the other parts of the hierarchy that are accessible.
EXAMPLES
To change the group ownership of the file or directory named proposals to staff, enter:
chgrp staff proposals
The group access permissions for proposals now apply to staff. See chmod for details.
FILES
/etc/groupContains group information.
EXIT VALUES
The following exit values are returned:
0Successful completion, all requested changes were made
>0An error occurred
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: chmod(1), chown(1), groups(1)