Linux and Unix chgrp command group

Linux and Unix chgrp command

About chgrp
chgrp syntax
chgrp examples
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About chgrp

Changes group ownership of a file or files.

Description

Change the group of each FILE to GROUP. With --reference, change the group of each FILE to that of RFILE.

chgrp syntax

chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...

chgrp [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...

Options

-c, --changes	like verbose but report only when a change is made
-f, --silent, --quiet	suppress most error messages.
-v, --verbose	output a diagnostic for every file processed.
--dereference	affect the referenced file of each symbolic link, rather than the symbolic link itself. This is the default.
-h, --no-dereference	affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file. This is useful only on systems that can change the ownership of a symlink.
--no-preserve-root	do not treat '/' in any special way. This is the default.
--preserve-root	Do not operate recursively on '/'.
--reference=RFILE	use RFILE's group rather than specifying a GROUP value.
-R, --recursive	operate on files and directories recursively.

The following options modify how a hierarchy is traversed when the -R option is also specified. If more than one of these options is specified, only the final one takes effect:

-H	if a command line argument is a symbolic link to a directory, traverse it.
-L	traverse every symbolic link to a directory.
-P	do not traverse any symbolic links. This is the default.
--help	Display a help message and exit.
--version	output version information and exit.

chgrp examples

chgrp hope file.txt

Change the owning group of the file file.txt to the group named hope.

chgrp -hR staff /office/files

Change the owning group of /office/files, and all subdirectories, to the group staff.

Related commands

chmod — Change the permissions of files or directories.
chown — Change the ownership of files or directories.
id — Display real and effective user and group IDs.