.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"	@(#)chown.8	6.2.1 (2.11BSD) 1996/11/17
.\"
.TH CHOWN 8 "May 22, 1986"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
chown \- change owner
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B /usr/sbin/chown
[
.B \-f
.B \-R
]
owner[.group] file ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Chown
changes the owner of the
.I files
to
.IR owner .
The owner may be either a decimal UID or
a login name found in the password file.
An optional group may also be specified.
The group may be either a decimal GID or
a group name found in the group-ID file.
.PP
Only the super-user can change owner,
in order to simplify accounting procedures.
No errors are reported when the
.B \-f
(force) option is given.
.PP
When the
.B \-R
option is given, 
.I chown
recursively descends its directory arguments
setting the specified owner.
When symbolic links are encountered, their ownership is changed,
but they are not traversed.
.SH FILES
/etc/passwd
.SH "SEE ALSO"
chgrp(1),
chown(2),
passwd(5), group(5)