Title: WP_Filesystem_Direct::chgrp
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_Filesystem_Direct::chgrp( string $file, string|int $group, bool $recursive = false ): bool

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Changes the file group.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$file`stringrequired

Path to the file.

`$group`string|intrequired

A group name or number.

`$recursive`booloptional

If set to true, changes file group recursively.

Default:`false`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool True on success, false on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function chgrp( $file, $group, $recursive = false ) {
    	if ( ! $this->exists( $file ) ) {
    		return false;
    	}

    	if ( ! $recursive ) {
    		return chgrp( $file, $group );
    	}

    	if ( ! $this->is_dir( $file ) ) {
    		return chgrp( $file, $group );
    	}

    	// Is a directory, and we want recursive.
    	$file     = trailingslashit( $file );
    	$filelist = $this->dirlist( $file );

    	foreach ( $filelist as $filename ) {
    		$this->chgrp( $file . $filename, $group, $recursive );
    	}

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php#L125)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php#L125-L147)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::dirlist()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/dirlist/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Gets details for files in a directory or a specific file.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::exists()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/exists/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Checks if a file or directory exists.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::is_dir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/is_dir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Checks if resource is a directory.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::chgrp()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Changes the file group.

  | 
| [trailingslashit()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/trailingslashit/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Appends a trailing slash.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::mkdir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/mkdir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Creates a directory.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::chgrp()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Changes the file group.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chgrp/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [2.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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