# chown(1) - man - phpMan

[CHOWN(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CHOWN/1/markdown)                                    User Commands                                   [CHOWN(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CHOWN/1/markdown)



## NAME
       chown - change file owner and group

## SYNOPSIS
       **chown** [_OPTION_]... [_OWNER_][_:_[_GROUP_]] _FILE_...
       **chown** [_OPTION_]... _--reference=RFILE_ _FILE_...

## DESCRIPTION
       This  manual  page  documents  the GNU version of **chown**.  **chown** changes the user and/or group
       ownership of each given file.  If only an owner (a user name or numeric user  ID)  is  given,
       that  user is made the owner of each given file, and the files' group is not changed.  If the
       owner is followed by a colon and a group name (or numeric group ID), with no  spaces  between
       them, the group ownership of the files is changed as well.  If a colon but no group name fol‐
       lows the user name, that user is made the owner of the files and the group of  the  files  is
       changed to that user's login group.  If the colon and group are given, but the owner is omit‐
       ted, only the group of the files is changed; in this case, **chown** performs the  same  function
       as **chgrp**.  If only a colon is given, or if the entire operand is empty, neither the owner nor
       the group is changed.

## OPTIONS
       Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP.  With  **--reference**,  change
       the owner and group of each FILE to those of RFILE.

### -c --changes
              like verbose but report only when a change is made

### -f --silent --quiet
              suppress most error messages

### -v --verbose
              output a diagnostic for every file processed

### --dereference
              affect  the referent of each symbolic link (this is the default), rather than the sym‐
              bolic link itself

### -h --no-dereference
              affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file (useful only on systems that  can
              change the ownership of a symlink)

       **--from**=_CURRENT_OWNER_:CURRENT_GROUP
              change  the  owner  and/or  group  of each file only if its current owner and/or group
              match those specified here.  Either may be omitted, in which case a match is  not  re‐
              quired for the omitted attribute

### --no-preserve-root
              do not treat '/' specially (the default)

### --preserve-root
              fail to operate recursively on '/'

       **--reference**=_RFILE_
              use RFILE's owner and group rather than specifying OWNER:GROUP values

### -R --recursive
              operate on files and directories recursively

       The  following  options modify how a hierarchy is traversed when the **-R** option is also speci‐
       fied.  If more than one is specified, only the final one takes effect.

### -H

### -L

### -P

       **--help** display this help and exit

### --version
              output version information and exit

       Owner is unchanged if missing.  Group is unchanged if missing, but changed to login group  if
       implied  by a ':' following a symbolic OWNER.  OWNER and GROUP may be numeric as well as sym‐
       bolic.

## EXAMPLES
       chown root /u
              Change the owner of /u to "root".

       chown root:staff /u
              Likewise, but also change its group to "staff".

       chown -hR root /u
              Change the owner of /u and subfiles to "root".

## AUTHOR
       Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

## REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>>
       Report any translation bugs to <<https://translationproject.org/team/>>

## COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3  or  later
       <<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>>.
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to
       the extent permitted by law.

## SEE ALSO
       [chown(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/chown/2/markdown)

       Full documentation <<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chown>>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) chown invocation'



GNU coreutils 8.32                          January 2026                                    [CHOWN(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CHOWN/1/markdown)