NAME

chown − change owner

SYNOPSIS

/usr/etc/chown [ −fHR ] owner[.group] filename ...

DESCRIPTION

chown changes the owner of the filenames to owner. The owner may be either a decimal user ID (UID) or a login name found in the password file.  An optional group may also be specified.  The group may be either a decimal group ID (GID) or a group name found in the GID file. 

Only the super-user can change owner, in order to simplify accounting procedures. 

OPTIONS

−f Do not report errors. 

−R Recursively descend into directories setting the ownership of all files in each directory encountered.  When symbolic links are encountered, their ownership is changed, but they are not traversed. 

FILES

/etc/passwd password file

SEE ALSO

chgrp(1), chown(2V), group(5), passwd(5)

Sun Release 4.1  —  Last change: 9 September 1987