CHOWN(8)                             BSD                              CHOWN(8)



NAME
     chown - change owner

SYNOPSIS
     /etc/chown [ -f -R ] owner[.group] file ...

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

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

OPTIONS
     -f        Don't report errors (force).

     -R        Recursively descend the directory arguments, setting the
               specified owner.  When symbolic links are encountered they are
               not traversed. On some systems, the -R option changes the
               ownership of symbolic links. Since BSD doesn't support symbolic
               link ownership, chown -R doesn't affect symbolic links.

FILES
     /etc/passwd

SEE ALSO
     chgrp(1), chown(2), passwd(5), group(5)