---
name: "matchpathcon"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "selinux-utils"
version: "3.8.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/matchpathcon"
---

# matchpathcon(8)

get the default SELinux security context for the specified path from the file contexts configuration

## NAME

matchpathcon - get the default SELinux security context for the specified path from the file contexts configuration

## SYNOPSIS

**matchpathcon** \[**-V**\] \[**-N**\] \[**-n**\] \[**-m** *type*\] \[**-f** *file\_contexts\_file*\] \[**-p** *prefix*\] \[**-P** *policy\_root\_path*\] *filepath...*

## DESCRIPTION

**matchpathcon** queries the system policy and outputs the default security context associated with the filepath.

**Note:** Identical paths can have different security contexts, depending on the file type (regular file, directory, link file, char file ...).

**matchpathcon** will also take the file type into consideration in determining the default security context if the file exists. If the file does not exist, no file type matching will occur.

## OPTIONS

- **-m** *type*

  Force file type for the lookup. Valid types are **file**, **dir**, **pipe**, **chr\_file**, **blk\_file**,  **lnk\_file**, **sock\_file**

- **-n**

  Do not display path

- **-N**

  Do not use translations

- **-f** *file\_context\_file*

  Use alternate file\_context file

- **-p** *prefix*

  Use prefix to speed up translations

- **-P** *policy\_root\_path*

  Use alternate policy root path

- **-V**

  Verify file context on disk matches defaults

## EXAMPLE

```
Show the default label of sock_file cups.sock
# matchpathcon -m sock_file /var/run/cups/cups.sock
Verify that /var/www/html directory is labeled correctly (the content of the folder is not checked)
# matchpathcon -V /var/www/html
```

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Dan Walsh \<dwalsh@redhat.com\>.

## SEE ALSO

[**selinux**(8)](/selinux/8.md),  [**matchpathcon**(3)](/matchpathcon/3.md)