{"id":307,"date":"2016-01-17T22:34:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T20:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.systemcodegeeks.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2018-05-31T15:58:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T12:58:24","slug":"linux-chown-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.systemcodegeeks.com\/shell-scripting\/bash\/linux-chown-example\/","title":{"rendered":"Linux chown Example"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Introduction<\/h2>\n

In this example,\u00a0we feature a comprehensive Linux chown Example. We will see how to use the Unix-like system command chown<\/code><\/p>\n

The chown<\/code> command changes the owner and owning group of files.<\/p>\n

1.1 Linux Machine<\/h3>\n

If you are on Windows OS, before we get into the details of this command, I would suggest you to have a Linux machine for better understanding of the usage of this command.<\/p>\n

Not necessarily you need to physically have a separate machine. You can very much have a virtual Linux machine on a virtual box like Oracle VirtualBox.
\n[ulp id=’SG9vnnKgRCD7iZxf’]<\/p>\n

2. Syntax<\/h2>\n
chown [OPTION<\/i>]... [OWNER<\/i>][:[GROUP<\/i>]] FILE<\/i>...<\/pre>\n
chown [OPTION<\/i>]... --reference=RFILE<\/i> FILE<\/i>...<\/pre>\n
3. Description<\/h2>\n
chown<\/b> changes the user and\/or group ownership of each given file.<\/p>\n
If only an owner is given, that user is made the owner of each given file, and the files’ group is not changed.<\/p>\n
If the owner is followed by a colon and a group name, with no spaces between them, the group ownership of the files is changed as well.<\/p>\n
If a colon but no group name follows 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.<\/p>\n
If the colon and group are given, but the owner is omitted, only the group of the files is changed; in this case, chown<\/b> performs the same function as chgrp<\/b>. If only a colon is given, or if the entire operand is empty, neither the owner nor the group is changed.<\/p>\n
4. Options<\/h2>\n
Here is the list of options available to use with chown<\/code> command<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
-c<\/b>, –changes<\/b><\/td>\nlike verbose<\/b> but report only when a change is made.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-f<\/b>, –silent<\/b>, –quiet<\/b><\/td>\nsuppress most error messages.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-v<\/b>, –verbose<\/b><\/td>\noutput a diagnostic for every file processed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–dereference<\/b><\/td>\naffect the referenced file of each symbolic link rather than the symbolic link itself. This is the default.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-h<\/b>, –no-dereference<\/b><\/td>\naffect symbolic links instead of any referenced file. This is useful only on systems that can change the ownership of a symlink.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–from<\/b>=CURRENT_OWNER:CURRENT_GROUP<\/i><\/td>\nchange 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 required for the omitted attribute.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–no-preserve-root<\/b><\/td>\ndo not treat ‘\/<\/b>‘ (the root directory) in any special way. This is the default.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–preserve-root<\/b><\/td>\nDo not operate recursively on ‘\/<\/b>‘.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–reference=RFILE<\/b><\/td>\nuse RFILE’s owner and group rather than specifying OWNER:GROUP<\/b> values<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-R<\/b>, –recursive<\/b><\/td>\noperate on files and directories recursively.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
 <\/p>\n
The following options modify how a hierarchy is traversed when the -R<\/b> option is also specified. If more than one is specified, only the final one takes effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
-H<\/b><\/td>\nif a command line argument is a symbolic link to a directory, traverse it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-L<\/b><\/td>\ntraverse every symbolic link to a directory encountered<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
-P<\/b><\/td>\ndo not traverse any symbolic links. This is the default.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–help<\/b><\/td>\ndisplay this help and exit.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
–version<\/b><\/td>\noutput version information and exit.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
 <\/p>\n
Owner is unchanged if unspecified. Group is unchanged if unspecified, or changed to the login group if implied by a ‘:<\/b>‘ following a symbolic OWNER<\/b>. OWNER<\/b> and GROUP<\/b> may be numeric as well as symbolic.<\/p>\n
5. Examples<\/h2>\n
Please refer to the image shown below.<\/p>\n
\"Linux<\/a>
List Command Details<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We will see the details of the information given above with yellow rectangle mark.<\/p>\n