Example usage of
chown command | |
| Original author(s) | Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | AT&T Bell Laboratories |
| Initial release | November 3, 1971; 52 years ago (1971-11-03) |
| Operating system | Unix and Unix-like, IBM i |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Command |
The command chown /ˈtʃoʊn/, an abbreviation of change owner, is used on Unix and Unix-like operating systems to change the owner of file system files and directories. Unprivileged (regular) users who wish to change the group membership of a file that they own may use chgrp.
The ownership of any file in the system may only be altered by a super-user. A user cannot give away ownership of a file, even when the user owns it. Similarly, only a member of a group can change a file's group ID to that group.[1]
The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.[2] The chown command has also been ported to the IBM i operating system.[3]
chown – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group|
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