The (from change group)

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards ...

may be used by unprivileged users on various operating systems to change the group associated with a

file system In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one lar ...

object (such as a

computer file A computer file is a computer resource for recording data in a computer storage device, primarily identified by its file name. Just as words can be written to paper, so can data be written to a computer file. Files can be shared with and trans ...

, directory, or link) to one of which they are a member. A file system object has 3 sets of access permissions, one set for the owner, one set for the group and one set for others. Changing the group of an object could be used to change which users can write to a file.

History

The command was originally developed as part of the

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

operating system by

AT&T Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

. It is also available in the

Plan 9 Plan 9 or Plan Nine may refer to: Music * Plan 9 (band), a psychedelic rock band from Rhode Island * ''Plan 9'', an album by Big Guitars From Memphis with Rick Lindy * "Plan 9", a song on the 1993 album ''Gorgeous'' by electronica band 808 Stat ...

and Inferno operating systems and in most

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

systems. The command has also been ported to the IBM i operating system.

Syntax

chgrp 'options''''group'' ''FSO'' * The ''group'' parameter specifies the new group with which the files or directories should be associated. It may either be a symbolic name or an

identifier An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique ''class'' of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical countable object (or class thereof), or physical noncountable ...

. * The ''FSO'' specifies one or more file system objects, which may be the result of a glob expression like .

Frequently implemented options

recurse through subdirectories. verbosely output names of objects changed. Most useful when is a list. force or forge ahead with other objects even if an error is encountered.

Example

$ 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 $ chgrp staff *.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 The above command changes the group associated with file ''prog.conf'' from to (provided the executing user is a member of that group). This could be used to allow members of staff to modify the configuration for programs and .

References

External links