chgrp command

chgrp - change group ownership

The chgrp command in Linux is used to change the group ownership of files and directories. It’s a straightforward tool for managing which group has access to a resource, complementing commands like chown (which also changes user ownership).

Note: Changing group ownership typically requires appropriate permissions—either ownership of the file or root privileges (using sudo).

Usage: chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...

• GROUP: The new group name or group ID (GID) to assign.
• FILE: The target file(s) or directory(s).
• OPTION: Flags to modify behavior (e.g., -R for recursive).

Common Options

Option	Description
-R	Recursive (apply to directory contents)
-v	Verbose output
--reference	Copy group from another file
-c	Report only when a change is made
-f	Suppress error messages

Examples

• Basic Usage

  Change the group of a file to a specified group.

  chgrp developers file.txt
  • Sets the group of file.txt to developers.
  • Check with:

    ls -l file.txt
    • Output (example): -rw-r--r-- 1 alice developers 0 Apr 1 10:00 file.txt.

• Using Group ID (GID)

  Specify a numeric GID instead of a group name.

  chgrp 1001 file.txt
  • Sets the group to GID 1001 (find GIDs in /etc/group or with getent group developers).

• Recursive Changes

  Use -R to change the group of a directory and all its contents.

  chgrp -R developers /var/www
  • Sets the group to developers for /var/www and everything inside.
  • Verify:

    ls -lR /var/www

• Verbose Output

  Use -v to see what changes are made.

  chgrp -v developers file.txt
  • Output: changed group of 'file.txt' to developers.

• Copying Group Ownership

  Use --reference to copy the group from another file.

  chgrp --reference=template.txt file.txt
  • Sets file.txt’s group to match template.txt’s group.

• Checking Groups

  View available groups or confirm changes.

  List Groups:

  cat /etc/group
  • Output (partial): developers:x:1001:alice,bob.

  Check File:

  ls -l file.txt
  • Look at the group field (second column after permissions).

To get help related to the chgrp command use --help option

$ chgrp --help
Usage: chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...
  or:  chgrp [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...
Change the group of each FILE to GROUP.
With --reference, change the group of each FILE to that of RFILE.

  -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 referent of each symbolic link (this is
                         the default), rather than the symbolic link itself
  -h, --no-dereference   affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file
                         (useful only on systems that can change the
                         ownership of a symlink)
      --no-preserve-root  do not treat '/' specially (the default)
      --preserve-root    fail to 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 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
                         encountered
  -P                     do not traverse any symbolic links (default)

      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  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".

For more details, check the manual with man chgrp