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Mac OS X / Darwin man pages : chflags (1)
chflags (1)

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Name

chflags - change file flags

Synopsis

chflags [-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:

-H
If the -R option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed. (Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.)

-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 for the file hierarchies rooted in the files instead of just the files themselves.

The flags are specified as an octal number or a comma separated list of keywords. The following keywords are currently defined:

arch
set the archived flag (super-user only) opaque set the opaque flag (owner or super-user only) nodump set the nodump flag (owner or super-user only) sappnd set the system append-only flag (super-user only)
schg
set the system immutable flag (super-user only) sunlnk set the system undeletable flag (super-user only) uappnd set the user append-only flag (owner or super-user only)
uchg
set the user immutable flag (owner or super-user only) uunlnk set the user undeletable flag (owner or super-user only) archived, sappend, schange, simmutable, uappend, uchange, uimmutable, sunlink, uunlink aliases for the above

Putting the letters ``no'' before an option causes the flag to be turned off. For example:

nouchg the immutable bit should be cleared

Symbolic links do not have flags, so unless the -H or -L option is set, chflags on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect. The -H, -L and -P options are ignored 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.

Diagnostics

The chflags utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

See Also

ls(1) , chflags(2) , stat(2) , fts(3) , symlink(7)

History

The chflags command first appeared in 4.4BSD.

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