If you need to create a file that has the exact same ownership and permission bits as an existing file, the ‘reference’ flag provides a convenient shortcut.
For example, if you had a file named ‘myoriginal’ that had the exact ownership and permissions required for a new file ‘mynewfile’, you could use the commands below to inherit them.
sudo chmod --reference=myoriginal mynewfile sudo chown --reference=myoriginal mynewfile
sudo is required if the ownership or permissions being assigned are beyond the permissions of the logged in user.
REFERENCES