CHGRP

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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NAME

chgrp - change group ownership  

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

Change the group of each FILE to GROUP. With --reference, change the group of each FILE to that of RFILE.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-c'-c, --changesX'tty: link'

like verbose but report only when a change is made

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-f'-f, --silent, --quietX'tty: link'

suppress most error messages

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-v'-v, --verboseX'tty: link'

output a diagnostic for every file processed

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-dereference'--dereferenceX'tty: link'

affect the referent of each symbolic link (this is the default), rather than the symbolic link itself

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-h'-h, --no-dereferenceX'tty: link'

affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file; useful only on systems that can change the ownership of a symlink

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-from'--from=CURRENT_OWNER:CURRENT_GROUPX'tty: link'

change the ownership of each file only if its current owner and/or group match those specified here. Either may be omitted, in which case a match is not required for the omitted attribute

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-n-preserv-root'--no-preserve-rootX'tty: link'

do not treat '/' specially (the default)

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-preserv-root'--preserve-rootX'tty: link'

fail to operate recursively on '/'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-reference'--reference=RFILEX'tty: link'

use RFILE's ownership rather than specifying values. RFILE is always dereferenced if a symbolic link.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-R'-R, --recursiveX'tty: link'

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 is specified, only the final one takes effect. -P is the default.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-H'-HX'tty: link'

if a command line argument is a symlink to a directory, traverse it

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-L'-LX'tty: link'

traverse every symbolic link to a directory encountered

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chgr-P'-PX'tty: link'

do not traverse any symbolic links

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chgrp#chgr-help'--helpX'tty: link'

display this help and exit

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chgrp#chgr-version'--versionX'tty: link'

output version information and exit

 

EXAMPLES

chgrp staff /u

Change the group of /u to "staff".

chgrp -hR staff /u

Change the group of /u and subfiles to "staff".

 

AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org

Report Gentoo bugs to: https://bugs.gentoo.org/
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>  

SEE ALSO

chown(1), chown(2)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chgrp>
or available locally via: info aq(coreutils) chgrp invocationaq

Packaged by Gentoo (9.10 (p0))
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

EXAMPLES

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO