Chmod

---

title: "Chmod" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["file-system-permissions", "operating-system-security", "standard-unix-programs", "unix-file-system-related-software", "unix-sus2008-utilities", "plan-9-commands", "inferno-(operating-system)-commands", "ibm-i-qshell-commands"] description: "Shell command for changing access permissions of a file" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chmod" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Shell command for changing access permissions of a file ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	chmod
caption	Example usage of command to change the specified file's permissions
author	AT&T Bell Laboratories
developer	Various open-source and commercial developers
released
programming language	Plan 9: C
operating system	Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno, IBM i
platform	Cross-platform
genre	Command
license	coreutils: GPLv3
Plan 9: MIT License
::

| name = chmod | logo = | caption = Example usage of command to change the specified file's permissions | author = AT&T Bell Laboratories | developer = Various open-source and commercial developers | released = | latest release version = | latest release date = | programming language = Plan 9: C | operating system = Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno, IBM i | platform = Cross-platform | genre = Command | license = coreutils: GPLv3 Plan 9: MIT License | website = **** is a shell command for changing access permissions and special mode flags of files (including special files such as directories). The name is short for change mode where mode refers to the permissions and flags collectively.

The command originated in AT&T Unix version 1 and was exclusive to Unix and Unix-like operating systems until it was ported to other operating systems such as Windows (in UnxUtils) and IBM i.

In Unix and Unix-like operating systems, a system call with the same name as the command, , provides access to the underlying access control data. The command exposes the capabilities of the system call to a shell user.

As the need for enhanced file-system permissions grew, access-control lists were added to many file systems to augment the modes controlled via .

The implementation of bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.

Use

Although the syntax of the command varies somewhat by implementation, it generally accepts either a single octal value (which specifies all the mode bits on each file), or a comma-delimited list of symbolic specifiers (which describes how to change the existing mode bits of each file). The remaining arguments are a list of paths to files to be modified.

Changing permissions is only allowed for the superuser (root) and the owner of a file.

If a symbolic link is specified, the target of the link has its mode bits adjusted. Permissions directly associated with a symbolic link file system entry are typically not used.

Options

Optional, command-line options may include:

• recursive; include contained files and subdirectories of specified directories not in Mac OS* forge ahead; processing continues if errors occur. NOT force --
• verbose; log changed file names

Octal notation

Given a numeric permissions argument, the command treats it as an octal number, and replaces all the mode bits for each file. (Although four digits are specified, leading digits can be elided.)

There are twelve standard mode bits, comprising three special bits (, , and ), and three permission groups (controlling access by user, group, and other) of 3 bits each (read, write, and exec/scan); each permission bit grants access if set (1) or denies access if clear (0).

As an octal digit represents a 3-bit value, the twelve mode bits can be represented as four octal digits. accepts up to four digits and uses 0 for left digits not specified (as is normal for numeric representation). In practice, three digits are commonly specified since the special modes are rarely used and the user class is usually specified.

In the context of an octal digit, each operation bit represents a numeric value: read: 4, write: 2 and execute: 1. The following table relates octal digit values to a class operations value.

::data[format=table title="Octal digit permission"]

#	bits	rwx	granted operations
7			read, write and execute
6			read and write
5			read and execute
4			read only
3			write and execute
2			write only
1			execute only
0			none
::

The command can report a file's permissions as octal. For example:

::code[lang=console] $ stat -c %a findPhoneNumbers.sh 754 ::

The reported value, indicates the following permissions:

• user class: read, write, and execute; 7 = (4 + 2 + 1)
• group class: read and execute; 5 = (4 + 1)
• others class: read only; (4)

A code permits execution if and only if it is odd (i.e. 1, 3, 5, or 7). A code permits read if and only if it is greater than or equal to 4 (i.e. 4, 5, 6, or 7). A code permits write if and only if it is 2, 3, 6, or 7.

Symbolic notation

The command accepts symbolic notation that specifies how to modify the existing permissions. The command accepts a comma-separate list of specifiers like: [*classes*]+|-|=*operations*

Classes map permissions to users. A change specifier can select one class by including its symbol, multiple by including each class's symbol with no delimiter, or all classes by not specifying a symbol; when using the last method, the bits of the umask mask will remain unchanged. Class specifiers include:

::data[format=table title="Class specifiers"]

symbol	description
	user: file owner
	group: members of the file's group
	others: users who are neither the file's owner nor members of the file's group
	all three classes; same as
::

As ownership is key to access control, and since the symbolic specification uses the abbreviation o, some incorrectly think that it means owner, when, in fact, it is short for others.

The change operators include: ::data[format=table title="Operators"]

symbol	description
	add operations/flags
	remove operations/flags
	set the entire operations/flags field; grants the specified operations and denies others
::

Operations can be specified as follows:

::data[format=table title="Operation specifiers"]

symbol	description
	read a regular file or list a directory's contents
	write to a file
	execute a regular file or recurse a directory tree
	special execute: selects to apply execute to directories (regardless of their current permissions) and apply execute to files that already have at least one execute permission granted (for any class); only useful with operation and usually in combination with option for giving group or others access to a directory tree without setting execute permission on regular files, which would normally happen with ; instead use
	setuid mode or setgid mode
	sticky mode
::

Most implementations support the specification of the special modes in octal, but some do not which requires using the symbolic notation.

The command can report file permissions in a symbolic notation that is similar to the notation used with . reports permissions in a notation that consists of 10 letters. The first indicates the type of the file system entry, such as dash for regular file and 'd' for directory. Following that are three sets of three letters that indicate read, write and execute permissions grouped by user, group and others classes. Each position is either dash to indicate lack of permission or the single-letter abbreviation for the permission to indicate that it's granted. For example:

::code[lang=console] $ ls -l findPhoneNumbers.sh -rwxr-xr-- 1 dgerman staff 823 Dec 16 15:03 findPhoneNumbers.sh ::

The permission specifier starts with a dash, which indicates that is a regular file, not a directory. The next three letters indicate that the file can be read, written, and executed by the owning user . The next three letters indicate that the file can be read and executed by members of the group. And the last three letters indicate that the file is read-only for other users.

Examples

And remember: less is more. KISS --

Add write permission to the group class of a directory, allowing users in the same group to add files:

::code[lang=console] $ ls -ld dir # before drwxr-xr-x 2 jsmitt northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 shared_dir $ chmod g+w dir $ ls -ld dir # after drwxrwxr-x 2 jsmitt northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 shared_dir ::

Remove write permission for all classes, preventing anyone from writing to the file:

::code[lang=console] $ ls -l ourBestReferenceFile -rw-rw-r-- 2 tmiller northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 ourBestReferenceFile $ chmod a-w ourBestReferenceFile $ ls -l ourBestReferenceFile -r--r--r-- 2 tmiller northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 ourBestReferenceFile ::

Set the permissions for the user and group classes to read and execute only, with no write permission, preventing anyone from adding files:

::code[lang=console] $ ls -ld referenceLib drwxr----- 2 ebowman northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 referenceLib $ chmod ug=rx referenceLib $ ls -ld referenceLib dr-xr-x--- 2 ebowman northregion 96 Apr 8 12:53 referenceLib ::

Enable write for the user class while making it read-only for group and others:

::code[lang=console] $ chmod u=rw,go=r sample $ ls -ld sample drw-r--r-- 2 oschultz warehousing 96 Dec 8 12:53 sample ::

To recursively set access for the directory docs/ and its contained files:

chmod -R u+w docs/

To set user and group for read and write only and set others for read only:

chmod 664 file

To set user for read, write, and execute only and group and others for read only:

chmod 744 file

To set the sticky bit in addition to user, group and others permissions:

chmod 1755 file

To set UID in addition to user, group and others permissions:

chmod 4755 file

To set GID in addition to user, group and others permissions:

chmod 2755 file

Notes

References

References

1. The modes/permissions are shown when [[ls. listing files]] in long format.
2. "Tutorial for chmod".
3. "Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities".
4. IBM. "IBM System i Version 7.2 Programming Qshell".
5. "AIX 5.3 System management". IBM.
6. "chmod(1): change file mode bits - Linux man page".
7. "chmod Man Page with examples and calculator - Linux - SS64.com".
8. This differs from the “C” language, where the {{code. 0 prefix for octal numbers is a remnant of its early period.
9. "AIX 5.5 Commands Reference". IBM.
10. "Permissions masking with umask, chmod, 777 octal permissions".

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