$ chown
Change file owner and group
DOCUMENTEDPermissionsUbuntu 24.04 LTS baseline
Use care. This command changes file ownership. Recursive changes can affect a large directory tree, so verify the path and intended owner/group before using `-R`.
Synopsis
chown [OPTION]... [OWNER][:[GROUP]] FILE...What it does
- `chown` changes ownership metadata.
- Recursive ownership changes affect every selected entry below the starting directory, so verify the path before using `-R`.
Examples
Change owner
sudo chown alice file.txtChange owner and group
sudo chown alice:developers project/Change a directory tree
sudo chown -R alice:developers project/Important details
These examples are intentionally conservative. Command behavior can still depend on filesystem state, permissions, locale, shell, installed package version, and other system configuration.
For exact option semantics, the linked authoritative documentation is the source of truth.