Chown command cheat sheet

1. Change the owner of a file

# chown [owner_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown root temp.txt

2. Change the group of a file

# chown :[group_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown :root temp.txt

3. Change both owner and the group

# chown [owner_name]:[group_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown root:root temp.txt

4. Using chown command on symbolic link file

# chown [owner_name]:[group_name] [file_symbolic_link]

Example

# chown root:root temp_symlnk

with -h flag change will be enforced

# chown -h root:root temp_symlnk

with -R flag we can use chown against symbolic link directory

# chown -R -H root:root temp_symlnk

5. Change owner only if a file is owned by a particular user

# chown --from=[owner_name] [new_owner_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown --from=root jenkins temp.txt

6. Change group only if a file already belongs to a certain group

# chown --from=:[group_name] :[new_group_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown --from=:root :jenkins temp.txt

7. Copy the owner/group settings from one file to another

# chown --reference=[source_file] [destination_file]

Example

# chown --reference=settings.txt temp.txt

8. Change the owner/group of the files by traveling the directories recursively

# chown -R [user_name]:[group_name] [directory_name]/

Example

# chown -R jenkins:jenkins jenkins/

9. List all the changes made by the chown command

# chown -v -R [user_name]:[group_name] [file_name]

Example

# chown -v -R root:jenkins temp.txt