Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

chown

Synopsis

chown [options] newowner[:newgroup] files
                  

Changes the ownership of one or more files to newowner. newowner is either a user ID number or a login name known to directory services. The optional newgroup is either a group ID number (GID) or a group name known to directory services. When newgroup is supplied, the behavior is to change the ownership of one or more files to newowner and make it belong to newgroup.

Options

-f

Force error messages to be suppressed.

-H

If any of the pathnames given in the command line are symbolic links, follow only those links during recursive operation. Works only with the -R option.

-L

Follow all symbolic links during recursive operation. Works only with the -R option.

-P

Follow no symbolic links during recursive operation. Works only with the -R option (the default).

-R

Recursively descend through the directory, including subdirectories, resetting the ownership ID.