What is the command chown?

  • The command chown is used to change a file, directory, or link ownership.
  • All files have associating users or group owners.

 

Command syntax:

chown [OPTIONS] USER[:GROUP] FILE(s)

 

[OPTIONS] – options can be added.

[USER] – username or the numeric user ID of the new file owner.

[:] – used when a group of a file is being changed.

[GROUP] – changing the group ownership of a file is optional.

FILE – is the target file.

 

The chown command requires superuser permissions.