NAME

chown − change owner and group of a file

SYNOPSIS

chown(name, owner, group)
char *name;
int owner;
int group;

DESCRIPTION

The file whose name is given by the null-terminated string pointed to by name has its owner and group changed as specified.  Only the super-user may execute this call, because if users were able to give files away, they could defeat the (nonexistent) file-space accounting procedures. 

Chown clears the set-user-id bit on the file to prevent accidental creation of set-user-id programs owned by the super-user. 

SEE ALSO

chown(1), passwd(5)

DIAGNOSTICS

Zero is returned if the owner is changed; −1 is returned on illegal owner changes. 

7th Edition  —  1/6/82