What is Chown?

Chown changes file ownership. Usage: chown user:group file, chown user file (owner only), chown :group file (group only). The -R flag applies recursively to directories.

Ownership determines which permission set (owner, group, others) applies to a user. Web servers often require specific ownership (e.g., chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www) for proper file access.