chgrp linux command

Changes group ownership of a file or files.
Change the group of each FILE to GROUP. With --reference, change the group of each FILE to that of RFILE.

chgrp syntax

chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...
chgrp [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...

Options

-c, --changes	Like verbose but report only when a change is made.
-f, --silent, --quiet	Suppress most error messages.
-v, --verbose	Output a diagnostic for every file processed.
--dereference	Affect the referenced file of each symbolic link, rather than the symbolic link itself, which is default setting.
-h, --no-dereference	Affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file. This option is useful only on systems that can change the ownership of a symlink.
--no-preserve-root	Do not treat '/' in any special way. This option is the default.
--preserve-root	Do not operate recursively on '/'.
--reference=RFILE	Use RFILE's group rather than specifying a GROUP value.
-R, --recursive	Operate on files and directories recursively.

 

The following options modify how a hierarchy is traversed when the -R option is also specified. If more than one of these options is specified, only the final one takes effect:

-H	If a command line argument is a symbolic link to a directory, traverse it.
-L	Traverse every symbolic link to a directory.
-P	Do not traverse any symbolic links. This option is the default.
--help	Display a help message and exit.
--version	Output version information and exit.

 
chgrp examples
chgrp hope file.txt

Change the owning group of the file file.txt to the group named hope.
chgrp -hR staff /office/files

Change the owning group of /office/files, and all subdirectories, to the group staff.