Title: WP_Filesystem_SSH2::chown
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Filesystem_SSH2::chown( string $file, string|int $owner, bool $recursive = false ): bool

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Changes the owner of a file or directory.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$file`stringrequired

Path to the file or directory.

`$owner`string|intrequired

A user name or number.

`$recursive`booloptional

If set to true, changes file owner recursively.

Default:`false`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool True on success, false on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

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

    	if ( ! $recursive || ! $this->is_dir( $file ) ) {
    		return $this->run_command( sprintf( 'chown %s %s', escapeshellarg( $owner ), escapeshellarg( $file ) ), true );
    	}

    	return $this->run_command( sprintf( 'chown -R %s %s', escapeshellarg( $owner ), escapeshellarg( $file ) ), true );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php#L393)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php#L393-L403)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_SSH2::exists()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/exists/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php` |

Checks if a file or directory exists.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_SSH2::is_dir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/is_dir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php` |

Checks if resource is a directory.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_SSH2::run_command()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/run_command/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php` |  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_SSH2::mkdir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/mkdir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ssh2.php` |

Creates a directory.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_ssh2/chown/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [2.7.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.7.0/) | Introduced. |

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