chown /ˈtʃoʊn/, short for change owner, is a shell command for changing the owning user of Unix-based file system files – including special files such as directories.
| chown | |
|---|---|
 Example usage of chown command | |
| Original authors | Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie |
| Developer | AT&T Bell Laboratories |
| Initial release | November 3, 1971 |
| Operating system | Unix and Unix-like, IBM i |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Command |
The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user (such as via sudo). A regular user cannot give away their ownership of a file.[1]
The version of chown bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.[2]
The command is available for Windows via UnxUtils.[3] The command was ported to IBM i.[4]
See also
edit- chgrp – Shell command for changing the group of a file
- chmod – Shell command for changing access permissions of a file
- List of POSIX commands
- takeown
References
edit- ↑ "BSD Man page for chown, March 31, 1994". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ↑ – Linux User Manual – User Commands
- ↑ "Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities". unxutils.sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on 2006-02-09. Retrieved 2025-08-09.
- ↑ IBM. "IBM System i Version 7.2 Programming Qshell" (PDF). IBM. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
External links
edit
The Wikibook Guide to Unix has a page on the topic of: Commands
- – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 5 from The Open Group
- chown manual page
- The chown Command by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)