# chown

> Change the owning user/group of the specified files.

- Change the user of a file:

`chown {{user}} {{path/to/file}}`

- Change the user and group of a file:

`chown {{user}}:{{group}} {{path/to/file}}`

- Recursively change the owner of an entire folder:

`chown -R {{user}} {{path/to/folder}}`

- Change the owner of a symbolic link:

`chown -h {{user}} {{path/to/symlink}}`

- Use the owner and group of a reference file and apply those values to another file:

`chown --reference={{reference-file}} {{path/to/file}}`