chgrp

chgrp

Example usage of chgrp command to change the files' groups
Developer(s)	AT&T Bell Laboratories
Initial release	May 1975 (1975-05)
Written in	Plan 9: C
Operating system	Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno, IBM i
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	Plan 9: MIT License

chgrp, short for change group, is a shellcommand for changing the group associated with a Unix-based file systemfile – including special files such as directories. Changing the group of a file is restricted to a super-user (such as via sudo) or to the file's owning user if the user is in the specified group.

A file has access permissions for the owning user, a group and for others. Changing the group for a file changes access to it based on users' group memberships.

History

The chgrp command was originally developed as part of the Unix operating system by AT&T Bell Laboratories. It is available in most Unix-like systems, Plan 9, Inferno and IBM i.

The version of chgrp bundled in GNUcoreutils was written by David MacKenzie.

Use

Generally, the syntax can be described as:

chgrp [options] groupfiles

• group specifies the group with which the files should be associated; may be either a symbolic name or an identifier
• files specifies one or more files, which may be the result of a glob expression like *.conf

Options:

• -RRecurse through directories
• -vVerbose output: log the name of each file changed
• -fForce or forge ahead even if an error occurs

Examples

The following demonstrates changing the group of files matching *.conf to staff – provided the user owns the files (is gbeeker) and is a member of staff. The change will allow members of the group staff to modify the files since the group-class permissions (read/write) will apply; not the others-class permissions (read only).

$ ls-l*.conf -rw-rw-r-- 1 gbeeker wheel 3545 Nov 04 2011 prog.conf-rw-rw-r-- 1 gbeeker wheel 3545 Nov 04 2011 prox.conf$ chgrpstaff*.conf $ ls-l*.conf -rw-rw-r-- 1 gbeeker staff 3545 Nov 04 2011 prog.conf-rw-rw-r-- 1 gbeeker staff 3545 Nov 04 2011 prox.conf

See also

• chmod – Shell command for changing access permissions of a file
• chown – Shell command for changing the owner of a file
• Group identifier (Unix) – Unix/POSIX system account group number; numeric value used to represent a specific groupPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• List of POSIX commands

External links

• chgrp: change the file group ownership – Shell and Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 from The Open Group
• chgrp(1) – Plan 9 Programmer's Manual, Volume 1
• chgrp(1) – Inferno General commands Manual