1 '\" Copyright (C) 1998-1999, 2001, 2006, 2009-2011 Free Software Foundation,
4 '\" This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms
5 '\" of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
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8 chown \- change file owner and group
11 documents the GNU version of
14 changes the user and/or group ownership of each given file. If
15 only an owner (a user name or numeric user ID) is given, that user is made the
16 owner of each given file, and the files' group is not changed. If the
17 owner is followed by a colon and a group name (or numeric group ID),
18 with no spaces between them, the group ownership of the files is
19 changed as well. If a colon but no group name follows the user name,
20 that user is made the owner of the files and the group of the files is
21 changed to that user's login group. If the colon and group are given,
22 but the owner is omitted, only the group of the files is changed;
25 performs the same function as
27 If only a colon is given, or if the entire operand is empty, neither the
28 owner nor the group is changed.