CHFLAGS(1)              FreeBSD 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.  (Symbolic
             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
             unintentionally 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
                       super-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
                       super-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
     assigned; 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 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.

     Note that the ability to change certain flags is dependent on the current
     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 13.1-RELEASE-p6          June 12, 2018         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6