CHGRP(1) User Commands CHGRP(1)

NAME

chgrp - change file group ownership

SYNOPSIS

chgrp [-fhR] group file...


chgrp -s [-fhR] groupsid file...


chgrp -R [f] [-H | -L | -P] group file...


chgrp -s -R [f] [-H | -L | -P] groupsid file...

DESCRIPTION

The chgrp utility will set the group ID of the file named by each
file operand to the group ID specified by the group operand.


For each file operand, it will perform actions equivalent to the
chown(2) function, called with the following arguments:

o The file operand will be used as the path argument.

o The user ID of the file will be used as the owner
argument.

o The specified group ID will be used as the group argument.


Unless chgrp is invoked by a process with appropriate privileges, the
set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of a regular file will be cleared
upon successful completion; the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits of
other file types may be cleared.


The operating system has a configuration option
_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED, to restrict ownership changes. When this
option is in effect, the owner of the file may change the group of
the file only to a group to which the owner belongs. Only the super-
user can arbitrarily change owner IDs, whether or not this option is
in effect. To set this configuration option, include the following
line in /etc/system:

set rstchown = 1


To disable this option, include the following line in /etc/system:

set rstchown = 0


_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED is enabled by default. See system(5) and
fpathconf(2).

OPTIONS

The following options are supported.


-f
Force. Does not report errors.


-h
If the file is a symbolic link, this option changes the group
of the symbolic link. Without this option, the group of the
file referenced by the symbolic link is changed.


-H
If the file specified on the command line is a symbolic link
referencing a file of type directory, this option changes the
group of the directory referenced by the symbolic link and all
the files in the file hierarchy below it. If a symbolic link is
encountered when traversing a file hierarchy, the group of the
target file is changed, but no recursion takes place.


-L
If the file is a symbolic link, this option changes the group
of the file referenced by the symbolic link. If the file
specified on the command line, or encountered during the
traversal of the file hierarchy, is a symbolic link referencing
a file of type directory, then this option changes the group of
the directory referenced by the symbolic link and all files in
the file hierarchy below it.


-P
If the file specified on the command line or encountered during
the traversal of a file hierarchy is a symbolic link, this
option changes the group of the symbolic link. This option does
not follow the symbolic link to any other part of the file
hierarchy.


-R
Recursive. chgrp descends through the directory, and any
subdirectories, setting the specified group ID as it proceeds.
When a symbolic link is encountered, the group of the of the
symbolic link is changed, unless the -H or -L option is
specified. Unless the -H, -L, or -P option is specified, the -P
option is used as the default mode.


-s
The specified group is Windows SID. This option requires a file
system that supports storing SIDs, such as ZFS.


Specifying more than one of the mutually-exclusive options -H, -L, or
-P is not considered an error. The last option specified determines
the behavior of chgrp.

OPERANDS

The following operands are supported:

group
A group name from the group database or a numeric group ID.
Either specifies a group ID to be given to each file named
by one of the file operands. If a numeric group operand
exists in the group database as a group name, the group ID
number associated with that group name is used as the group
ID.


file
A path name of a file whose group ID is to be modified.

USAGE

See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of chgrp when
encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2^31 bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of chgrp: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
The utility executed successfully and all requested changes
were made.


>0
An error occurred.

FILES

/etc/group
group file

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


+--------------------+---------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+---------------------+
|CSI | Enabled. See NOTES. |
+--------------------+---------------------+
|Interface Stability | Committed |
+--------------------+---------------------+
|Standard | See standards(7). |
+--------------------+---------------------+

SEE ALSO

chmod(1), chown(1), chown(2), fpathconf(2), group(5), passwd(5),
system(5), attributes(7), environ(7), largefile(7), standards(7),
id(8)

NOTES

chgrp is CSI-enabled except for the group name.


In the past the behavior of /usr/xpg4/bin/chgrp and /usr/bin/chgrp
utilities was different. Now they behave the same way.

February 21, 2019 CHGRP(1)