# What is `chown`?
**`chown`** is an abbreviation of *'change ownership'* in *unix* and *unix-like* operating systems. Ownership is important in these operating systems because it gives users or groups certain permissions. You can check the ownership status of a file or directory by going into that directory and using the `ls -l` command. Try running the `ls -l` command in the terminal below:

import React from 'react';
import { shallow, configure } from 'enzyme';
import Adapter from 'enzyme-adapter-react-16';

configure({ adapter: new Adapter() });

import HelloWorld from './app';

var TestResult = function() {
    this.succeeded = false;
    this.reason = "";
    this.input = "";
    this.expected_output = "";
    this.actual_output = "";
}

export const executeTests = function() {

  var results = [];

  result = new TestResult();
  result.input = 'HelloWorld Component';
  result.expected_output = "span containing text 'Hello World'"

  let wrapper = shallow(<HelloWorld />);

  // Call your Challenge function here.

  let type = wrapper.type();
  let testSuccessful = true;
  let failureReason;

  if (type !== 'span') {
    testSuccessful = false;
    failureReason = "You need to render exactly one span HTML element";
  } else if (wrapper.props().children != "Hello World") {
     testSuccessful = false;
     failureReason = "You have rendered wrong message in your span element";
  }

  result.actual_output = wrapper.html();

  if (testSuccessful) {
    result.succeeded = true;
    result.reason = "Succeeded"
  } else {
    result.succeeded = false;
    result.reason = failureReason;
  }

  results.push(result);

  return results;
}


ElixirEnvironment

React

Dart

GoJS React

Typescript React

Vue.js

> Ignore all the other files and just consider the `filename.txt` in this case.


```
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root   21 Jul  6 06:38 filename.txt
// which corresponds to the following format
<PERMISSIONS> <USERNAME> <GROUPNAME> <SIZE> <MONTH>  <DATE> <TIME> <FILENAME>
```
 Now that you know what the ownership status is, you can use `chown` to change them. The basic syntax for `chown` is:
```
chown [OPTIONS] USER[:GROUP] FILE(s)
``` 
> `chown` is often used with sudo or as a root because of the permissions necessary to use the command.

* You can set the `USER` by writing the username followed by the filename. The syntax for a simple change owner command is:
```
chown <USERNAME> <FILENAME>
```
* Similarly, you can change the `GROUP` by using the command:
```
chown :<GROUPNAME> <FILENAME>
```
> You can also change the group by using the command `chgrp`. The system call used is the same as that for `chown`.
* You can change both the user and group with:
```
chown <USERNAME>:<GROUPNAME> <FILENAME>
```
* `[OPTIONS]` refers to the flags of the operation, which will affect how the operation is done. The one we will be looking at in this article is the `-R` or `--recursive` flag, which is used for recursive operations.
> Write `man chown` in your terminal or visit  [this page](https://linux.die.net/man/1/chown) to see all the available flags.

# How and why to use `chown` recursively
When working with directories, you need to use the `-R` flag. `chown` will work recursively on all subdirectories and files to make your specified changes:
```
chown -R <USERNAME>:<GROUPNAME> DIRECTORY
```
You can use `-R` with other flags like `h`:
```
chown -hR <USERNAME>:<GROUPNAME> DIRECTORY
```
Other options available in recursive mode are `-L` and `-H`. What these options do is listed below.

|Options|Description|
| - | - |
|**`-h`**| (also known as --no--dereference) Does not dereference symbolic link; instead, if the *file* is a symlink, it changes the file owner|
|**`-L`**|Traverses every symbolic link to encountered directories.|
|**`H`**|If a command-line argument is a symbolic link to a directory, traverse it.|
|   |  |

Elixir.tar.gz

How to use chown recursively

chown changes file ownership in Unix. Use "chown -R" for recursive directory operations.

Options	Description
`-h`	(also known as --no–dereference) Does not dereference symbolic link; instead, if the file is a symlink, it changes the file owner
`-L`	Traverses every symbolic link to encountered directories.
`H`	If a command-line argument is a symbolic link to a directory, traverse it.

How to use chown recursively

What is chown?

How and why to use chown recursively

What is `chown`?

How and why to use `chown` recursively