NAME

chown − change file owner

SYNOPSIS

/usr/ucb/chown [−fhR] owner[.group] file . . . 

DESCRIPTION

chown changes the owner of the files to owner.  The owner may be either a decimal user ID or a login name found in /etc/passwd file.  The optional .group suffix may be used to change the group at the same time. 

If chown is invoked by other than the super-user, the set-user-ID bit of the file mode, 04000, is cleared. 

Only the super-user may change the owner of a file. 

Valid options to chown are:

−f Suppress error reporting

−h If the file is a symbolic link, change the owner of the symbolic link.  Without this option, the owner of the file referenced by the symbolic link is changed. 

−R Descend recursively through directories setting the ownership ID of all files in each directory entered. 

FILES

/etc/group
/etc/passwd

NOTES

In a Remote File Sharing environment, you may not have the permissions that the output of the ls −l command leads you to believe. 

SEE ALSO

chgrp(1), chmod(1), chown(2), passwd(4). 

  —  BSD Compatibility Package