`chown` command

Change the owner and group of files.

Users & permissions
Package coreutils
4 options · 5 examples

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Syntax
Common options
Examples
Guides
Related commands

Syntax

chown [options] user[:group] file…

Provided by the coreutils package. Run man chown for the full manual.

Common options

Option	What it does
`-R`	Apply recursively
`-v`	Print each change
`-h`	Change a symlink itself, not its target
`--reference=FILE`	Copy the owner of FILE

Examples

Change the owner
```
sudo chown alice report.pdf
```

Change owner and group

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/index.php

Change recursively

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

Change only the group
```
sudo chown :developers project/
```
Copy ownership from another file
```
sudo chown --reference=a.txt b.txt
```

chown guides

Chown Command in Linux with Examples Linux Commands · Updated Apr 2025

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