OS Manuals

/usr/bin/chcon

GNU core utilities

From coreutils 9.12-r7 (os), captured 2026-11-05 by running chcon --help (exit 0). permalink

Usage: /usr/bin/chcon [OPTION]... CONTEXT FILE...
  or:  /usr/bin/chcon [OPTION]... [-u USER] [-r ROLE] [-l RANGE] [-t TYPE] FILE...
  or:  /usr/bin/chcon [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...
Change the SELinux security context of each FILE to CONTEXT.
With --reference, change the security context of each FILE to that of RFILE.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
      --dereference
         affect the referent of each symbolic link (this is
         the default), rather than the symbolic link itself
  -h, --no-dereference
         affect symbolic links instead of any referenced file
  -u, --user=USER
         set user USER in the target security context
  -r, --role=ROLE
         set role ROLE in the target security context
  -t, --type=TYPE
         set type TYPE in the target security context
  -l, --range=RANGE
         set range RANGE in the target security context
      --no-preserve-root
         do not treat '/' specially (the default)
      --preserve-root
         fail to operate recursively on '/'
      --reference=RFILE
         use RFILE's security context rather than specifying a CONTEXT value
  -R, --recursive
         operate on files and directories recursively
  -v, --verbose
         output a diagnostic for every file processed

The following options modify how a hierarchy is traversed when the -R
option is also specified.  If more than one is specified, only the final
one takes effect. -P is the default.

  -H
         if a command line argument is a symlink to a directory, traverse it
  -L
         traverse every symbolic link to a directory encountered
  -P
         do not traverse any symbolic links

      --help
         display this help and exit
      --version
         output version information and exit

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chcon>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) chcon invocation'
Options (16)
OptionDescriptionSource
--dereferenceaffect the referent of each symbolic link (this is the default), rather than the symbolic link itselfhelp + man
-h, --no-dereferenceaffect symbolic links instead of any referenced filehelp + man
-u, --user USERset user USER in the target security contexthelp + man
-r, --role ROLEset role ROLE in the target security contexthelp + man
-t, --type TYPEset type TYPE in the target security contexthelp + man
-l, --range RANGEset range RANGE in the target security contexthelp + man
--no-preserve-rootdo not treat '/' specially (the default)help + man
--preserve-rootfail to operate recursively on '/'help + man
--reference RFILEuse RFILE's security context rather than specifying a CONTEXT valuehelp + man
-R, --recursiveoperate on files and directories recursivelyhelp + man
-v, --verboseoutput a diagnostic for every file processedhelp + man
-Hif a command line argument is a symlink to a directory, traverse ithelp + man
-Ltraverse every symbolic link to a directory encounteredhelp + man
-Pdo not traverse any symbolic linkshelp + man
--helpdisplay this help and exithelp + man
--versionoutput version information and exithelp + man

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.