Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
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

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=chflags&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+14.2-RELEASE+and+Ports>

home | help