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CHFLAGS(1) General Commands Manual CHFLAGS(1) NAME chflags -- change file flags SYNOPSIS chflags [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] flags file ... DESCRIPTION The chflags utility modifies the file flags of the listed files as specified by the flags operand. The options are as follows: -f Do not display a diagnostic message if chflags could not modify the flags for file, nor modify the exit status to reflect such failures. -H If the -R option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed and hence unaffected by the command. (Sym- bolic links encountered during traversal are not followed.) -h If the file is a symbolic link, change the file flags of the link itself rather than the file to which it points. -L If the -R option is specified, all symbolic links are followed. -P If the -R option is specified, no symbolic links are followed. This is the default. -R Change the file flags of the file hierarchies rooted in the files, instead of just the files themselves. Beware of unin- tentionally matching the ".." hard link to the parent directory when using wildcards like ".*". -v Cause chflags to be verbose, showing filenames as the flags are modified. If the -v option is specified more than once, the old and new flags of the file will also be printed, in octal notation. -x Do not cross mount points. The flags are specified as an octal number or a comma separated list of keywords. The following keywords are currently defined: arch, archived set the archived flag (super-user only) nodump set the nodump flag (owner or super-user only) opaque set the opaque flag (owner or super-user only) sappnd, sappend set the system append-only flag (super-user only) schg, schange, simmutable set the system immutable flag (super-user only) snapshot set the snapshot flag (filesystems do not allow changing this flag) sunlnk, sunlink set the system undeletable flag (super-user only) uappnd, uappend set the user append-only flag (owner or super-user only) uarch, uarchive set the archive flag (owner or super-user only) uchg, uchange, uimmutable set the user immutable flag (owner or super-user only) uhidden, hidden set the hidden file attribute (owner or super-user only) uoffline, offline set the offline file attribute (owner or super-user only) urdonly, rdonly, readonly set the DOS, Windows and CIFS readonly flag (owner or su- per-user only) usparse, sparse set the sparse file attribute (owner or super-user only) usystem, system set the DOS, Windows and CIFS system flag (owner or su- per-user only) ureparse, reparse set the Windows reparse point file attribute (owner or super-user only) uunlnk, uunlink set the user undeletable flag (owner or super-user only) Putting the letters "no" before or removing the letters "no" from a keyword causes the flag to be cleared. For example: nouchg clear the user immutable flag (owner or super-user only) dump clear the nodump flag (owner or super-user only) A few of the octal values include: 0 Clear all file flags. 1 Translates to the nodump keyword. 2 Translates to the uchg keyword. 3 Translates to the uchg, nodump keywords. 4 Translates to the uappnd keyword. 10 Translates to the opaque keyword. 20 translates to the uunlnk keyword. Other combinations of keywords may be placed by using the octets as- signed; however, these are the most notable. Unless the -H, -L, or -h options are given, chflags on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect. The -H, -L and -P options are ig- nored unless the -R option is specified. In addition, these options override each other and the command's actions are determined by the last one specified. You can use "ls -lo" to see the flags of existing files. Note that the ability to change certain flags is dependent on the cur- rent kernel securelevel setting. See security(7) for more information on this setting. If chflags receives a SIGINFO signal (see the status argument for stty(1)), then the current filename as well as the old and new flags are displayed. EXIT STATUS The chflags utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. EXAMPLES Recursively clear all flags on files and directories contained within the foobar directory hierarchy: chflags -R 0 foobar SEE ALSO ls(1), chflags(2), stat(2), fts(3), security(7), symlink(7) HISTORY The chflags command first appeared in 4.4BSD. BUGS Only a limited number of utilities are chflags aware. Some of these tools include ls(1), cp(1), find(1), install(1), dump(8), and restore(8). In particular a tool which is not currently chflags aware is the pax(1) utility. FreeBSD 13.2 June 12, 2018 CHFLAGS(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXIT STATUS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | BUGS
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