NAME

chgrp - change group ownership of files

SYNOPSIS

chgrp [options] group file...

POSIX options: [-R] [--]

POSIX 1003.1-2001 options: [-hHLPR]

GNU group denotation: [--reference=rfile]

GNU options (shortest form): [-cfvR] [--help] [--version] [--]

DESCRIPTION

chgrp changes the group ownership of each given file to group, which can be either a group name or a numeric group ID.

POSIX OPTIONS

-R

Recursively change the group ownership of directories and their contents. (And continue even when errors are encountered.)

--

Terminate option list.

AUSTIN DRAFT OPTIONS

-h

For each file operand given that is a symlink, change the group ownership of the symlink itself, rather than the object it points to. If the system does not support a group ownership for symlinks, do nothing for a symlink.

-H (half-logical)

(When given together with -R.) For each file operand given that is a symlink to a directory, change the group ownership of the directory and all files in the file hierarchy below it.

-L (logical)

(When given together with -R.) For each file, either command line operand or encountered during the tree walk, that is a symlink to a directory, change the group ownership of the directory and all files in the file hierarchy below it.

-P (physical)

(When given together with -R.) For each file, either command line operand or encountered during the tree walk, that is a symlink, change the group ownership of the symlink itself, rather than the object it points to. If the system does not support a group ownership for symlinks, do nothing for a symlink. This is the default.

-R

Recursively change the group ownership of directories and their contents.

ADDITIONAL GNU DESCRIPTION

A GNU extension (new in fileutils 4.0) allows one to use --reference=rfile as a group description: the same group as that of rfile.

GNU OPTIONS

-c, --changes

Verbosely describe the action for each file whose group actually changes.

-f, --silent, --quiet

Do not print error messages about files whose group cannot be changed.

-h, --no-dereference

Act on symbolic links themselves instead of what they point to. Only available if the lchown system call is provided.

-v, --verbose

Verbosely describe the action or non-action taken for every file.

-R, --recursive

Recursively change the group ownership of directories and their contents.

GNU STANDARD OPTIONS

--help

Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

--version

Print version information on standard output, then exit successfully.

--

Terminate option list.

ENVIRONMENT

The variables LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and LC_MESSAGES have the usual meaning. For an XSI-conforming system: NLSPATH has the usual meaning.

CONFORMING TO

POSIX 1003.2 only requires the -R option. Use of other options may not be portable.

NOTES

This page describes chgrp as found in the fileutils-4.0 package; other versions may differ slightly.