How to Change the Owner of a Directory Using Python

We can change who owns a file or directory by using the pwd, grp, and os modules. The uid module is used to change the owner, get the group ID from the group name string, and get the user ID from the user name. In this article, we will see how to change the owner of a directory using Python.

Change the Owner of a Directory Using Python

Below are the ways by which we can change the owner of a directory using Python:

• Using os.chown() Method
• Using shutil.chown() Method

Using os.chown() Method

To change the owner and group ID of the given path to the specified numeric owner ID (UID) and group ID (GID), use Python’s os.chown() method.

Syntax of os.chown() Method

os.chown(filepath, uid, gid, *, dir_fd = None, follow_symlinks = True)

Parameters:

• path: A file descriptor representing the file whose uid and gid is to be set
• uid: An integer value representing the owner id to be set for the path.
• gid: An integer value representing the group id to be set for the path. To leave any one of the ids unchanged, set it to -1.
• dir_fd (optional): A file descriptor referring to a directory. The default value of this parameter is None.
• follow_symlinks (optional): The default value of this parameter is True. If we do not want os.chown() method to follow symlink, we can set it to False. If it is False, method will operate on the symbolic link itself instead of the file the link points to.he procedure will work on the symbolic link rather than the file it links to.

Return Type: This method does not return any value.

Example 1: Changing Owner and Group ID

In this example, the function change is defined to modify the owner and group IDs of a specified file path (path). It prints the current owner and group IDs, changes them to the provided uid and gid, then displays the updated IDs.

Python3

import os

def change(path, uid, gid):
    try:
        # Displaying current owner and group IDs
        print("File's owner id:", os.stat(path).st_uid)
        print("File's group id:", os.stat(path).st_gid)

        # Changing the owner id and group id of the file
        os.chown(path, uid, gid)
        print("\nOwner id and group id of the file have been changed successfully")

        # Displaying updated owner and group IDs
        print("\nFile's owner id now is:", os.stat(path).st_uid)
        print("File's group id now is:", os.stat(path).st_gid)
    
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("File not found:", path)
    except Exception as e:
        print("An error occurred:", e)

# Example usage
path = "C:\\Users\\Lenovo\\Downloads\\Work TP\\trial.py"
uid = 1500
gid = 1500
change(path, uid, gid)

Output:

└─$ sudo python3 kislay.py
file's owner id: 100
file's group id: 100
Owner id and group id of the file is changed successfully
file's owner id now is: 1500
file's group id now is: 1500

Example 2: Changing Owner ID Only

In this example, the function change_owner is utilized to update the owner ID of a specified file (path) while maintaining the existing group ID. It first prints the current owner and group IDs, then changes the owner ID to the provided uid, and finally displays the updated owner and group IDs.

Python3

import os

def change_owner(path, uid):
    try:
        # Printing the current owner id and group id
        print("File's owner id:", os.stat(path).st_uid)
        print("File's group id:", os.stat(path).st_gid)

        # Setting gid as -1 to leave the group id unchanged
        gid = -1
        os.chown(path, uid, gid)
        print("\nOwner id of the file has been changed successfully, leaving the group id unchanged")

        # Printing the owner id and group id of the file now
        print("\nFile's owner id now is:", os.stat(path).st_uid)
        print("File's group id now is:", os.stat(path).st_gid)
    
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("File not found:", path)
    except Exception as e:
        print("An error occurred:", e)

# Example usage
path = "C:\\Users\\Lenovo\\Downloads\\Work TP\\trial.py"
uid = 200
change_owner(path, uid)

Output:

└─$ sudo python3 kislay.py
[sudo] password for kislay:
file's owner id: 1500
file's group id: 1000

Owner id of the file is changed successfully leaving the group id unchanged

file's owner id now is: 200
file's group id now is: 1000

Using shutil.chown() Method

In this example, the function change is defined to modify both the owner and group of a specified file (path). It first retrieves the current owner and group, then changes them to the provided uid and gid using shutil.chown().

Python3

import shutil
from pathlib import Path

def change(path, uid, gid):
    try:
        # Getting the owner and the group
        info = Path(path)
        user = info.owner()
        group = info.group()

        print("Present owner and group")
        print("Present owner:", user)
        print("Present group:", group)

        # Changing the owner and the group
        shutil.chown(path, uid, gid)
        print("\nThe owner and the group have been changed successfully")

        # Printing the owner user and group
        info = Path(path)
        user = info.owner()
        group = info.group()
        print("Present owner now:", user)
        print("Present group now:", group)

    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("File not found:", path)
    except Exception as e:
        print("An error occurred:", e)

# Example usage
path = 'C:\\Users\\Lenovo\\Downloads\\Work TP\\trial.py'
uid = 10
gid = 10
change(path, uid, gid)

Output:

$ sudo python3 code2.py
[sudo] password for kislay:
Present owner and group
Present owner: kislay
Present group: kislay

The owner and the group is changed successfully
Present owner now: uucp
Present group now: uucp