CHMOD(1) General Commands Manual CHMOD(1)
NAME
chmod - change mode
SYNOPSIS
chmod [ -Rf ] mode file ...
DESCRIPTION
The mode of each named file is changed according to mode, which may be absolute or symbolic. An absolute mode is an octal number con-
structed from the OR of the following modes:
4000 set user ID on execution
2000 set group ID on execution
1000 sticky bit, see chmod(2)
0400 read by owner
0200 write by owner
0100 execute (search in directory) by owner
0070 read, write, execute (search) by group
0007 read, write, execute (search) by others
A symbolic mode has the form:
[who] op permission [op permission] ...
The who part is a combination of the letters u (for user's permissions), g (group) and o (other). The letter a stands for all, or ugo. If
who is omitted, the default is a but the setting of the file creation mask (see umask(2)) is taken into account.
Op can be + to add permission to the file's mode, - to take away permission and = to assign permission absolutely (all other bits will be
reset).
Permission is any combination of the letters r (read), w (write), x (execute), X (set execute only if file is a directory or some other
execute bit is set), s (set owner or group id) and t (save text - sticky). Letters u, g, or o indicate that permission is to be taken from
the current mode. Omitting permission is only useful with = to take away all permissions.
When the -R option is given, chmod recursively descends its directory arguments setting the mode for each file as described above. When
symbolic links are encountered, their mode is not changed and they are not traversed.
If the -f option is given, chmod will not complain if it fails to change the mode on a file.
EXAMPLES
The first example denies write permission to others, the second makes a file executable by all if it is executable by anyone:
chmod o-w file
chmod +X file
Multiple symbolic modes separated by commas may be given. Operations are performed in the order specified. The letter s is only useful
with u or g.
Only the owner of a file (or the super-user) may change its mode.
SEE ALSO
ls(1), chmod(2), stat(2), umask(2), chown(8)
7th Edition May 22, 1986 CHMOD(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
chmod(1) User Commands chmod(1)
NAME
chmod - change the permissions mode of a file
SYNOPSIS
chmod [-fR] absolute-mode file...
chmod [-fR] symbolic-mode-list file...
DESCRIPTION
The chmod utility changes or assigns the mode of a file. The mode of a file specifies its permissions and other attributes. The mode may be
absolute or symbolic.
Absolute mode
An absolute mode specification has the following format:
chmod [options] absolute-mode file . . .
where absolute-mode is specified using octal numbers nnnn defined as follows:
n a number from 0 to 7. An absolute mode is constructed from the OR of any of the following modes:
4000 Set user ID on execution.
20#0 Set group ID on execution if # is 7, 5, 3, or 1.
Enable mandatory locking if # is 6, 4, 2, or 0.
For directories, files are created with BSD semantics for propagation of the group ID. With this option, files and subdi-
rectories created in the directory inherit the group ID of the directory, rather than of the current process. For direc-
tories, the set-gid bit may only be set or cleared by using symbolic mode.
1000 Turn on sticky bit. See chmod(2).
0400 Allow read by owner.
0200 Allow write by owner.
0100 Allow execute (search in directory) by owner.
0700 Allow read, write, and execute (search) by owner.
0040 Allow read by group.
0020 Allow write by group.
0010 Allow execute (search in directory) by group.
0070 Allow read, write, and execute (search) by group.
0004 Allow read by others.
0002 Allow write by others.
0001 Allow execute (search in directory) by others.
0007 Allow read, write, and execute (search) by others.
For directories, the setgid bit cannot be set (or cleared) in absolute mode; it must be set (or cleared) in symbolic mode using g+s (or g-
s).
Symbolic mode
A symbolic mode specification has the following format:
chmod [options] symbolic-mode-list file . . .
where symbolic-mode-list is a comma-separated list (with no intervening whitespace) of symbolic mode expressions of the form:
[who] operator [permissions]
Operations are performed in the order given. Multiple permissions letters following a single operator cause the corresponding operations to
be performed simultaneously.
who zero or more of the characters u, g, o, and a specifying whose permissions are to be changed or assigned:
u user's permissions
g group's permissions
o others' permissions
a all permissions (user, group, and other)
If who is omitted, it defaults to a, but the setting of the file mode creation mask (see umask in sh(1) or csh(1) for more
information) is taken into account. When who is omitted, chmod will not override the restrictions of your user mask.
operator either +, -, or =, signifying how permissions are to be changed:
+ Add permissions.
If permissions is omitted, nothing is added.
If who is omitted, add the file mode bits represented by permissions, except for the those with corresponding bits
in the file mode creation mask.
If who is present, add the file mode bits represented by the permissions.
- Take away permissions.
If permissions is omitted, do nothing.
If who is omitted, clear the file mode bits represented by permissions, except for those with corresponding bits
in the file mode creation mask.
If who is present, clear the file mode bits represented by permissions.
= Assign permissions absolutely.
If who is omitted, clear all file mode bits; if who is present, clear the file mode bits represented by who.
If permissions is omitted, do nothing else.
If who is omitted, add the file mode bits represented by permissions, except for the those with corresponding bits
in the file mode creation mask.
If who is present, add the file mode bits represented by permissions.
Unlike other symbolic operations, = has an absolute effect in that it resets all other bits represented by who. Omitting
permissions is useful only with = to take away all permissions.
permission any compatible combination of the following letters:
l mandatory locking
r read permission
s user or group set-ID
t sticky bit
w write permission
x execute permission
X execute permission if the file is a directory or if there is execute permission for one of the other user classes
u,g,o indicate that permission is to be taken from the current user, group or other mode respectively.
Permissions to a file may vary depending on your user identification number (UID) or group identification number (GID).
Permissions are described in three sequences each having three characters:
User Group Other
rwx rwx rwx
This example (user, group, and others all have permission to read, write, and execute a given file) demonstrates two cate-
gories for granting permissions: the access class and the permissions themselves.
The letter s is only meaningful with u or g, and t only works with u.
Mandatory file and record locking (l) refers to a file's ability to have its reading or writing permissions locked while a
program is accessing that file.
In a directory which has the set-group-ID bit set (reflected as either -----s--- or -----l--- in the output of 'ls -ld'),
files and subdirectories are created with the group-ID of the parent directory--not that of current process.
It is not possible to permit group execution and enable a file to be locked on execution at the same time. In addition, it
is not possible to turn on the set-group-ID bit and enable a file to be locked on execution at the same time. The following
examples, therefore, are invalid and elicit error messages:
chmod g+x,+l file
chmod g+s,+l file
Only the owner of a file or directory (or the super-user) may change that file's or directory's mode. Only the super-user
may set the sticky bit on a non-directory file. If you are not super-user, chmod will mask the sticky-bit but will not
return an error. In order to turn on a file's set-group-ID bit, your own group ID must correspond to the file's and group
execution must be set.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-f Force. chmod will not complain if it fails to change the mode of a file.
-R Recursively descends through directory arguments, setting the mode for each file as described above. When symbolic links are
encountered, the mode of the target file is changed, but no recursion takes place.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
absolute-mode Represents the change to be made to the file mode bits of each file named by one of the file operands. See Absolute Mode
symbolic-mode-liand Symbolic Mode above in the DESCRIPTION section for more information.
file A path name of a file whose file mode bits are to be modified.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of chmod when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Denying execute permission to everyone
example% chmod a-x file
Example 2: Allowing only read permission to everyone
example% chmod 444 file
Example 3: Making a file readable and writable by the group and others
example% chmod go+rw file
example% chmod 066 file
Example 4: Causing a file to be locked during access
example% chmod +l file
Example 5: Allowing everyone to read, write, and execute the file and turn on the set group-ID
example% chmod a=rwx,g+s file
example% chmod 2777 file
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of chmod: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES-
SAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|CSI |enabled |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Standard |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
getfacl(1), ls(1), setfacl(1), chmod(2), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5)
NOTES
Absolute changes do not work for the set-group-ID bit of a directory. You must use g+s or g-s.
chmod permits you to produce useless modes so long as they are not illegal (for instance, making a text file executable). chmod does not
check the file type to see if mandatory locking is meaningful.
If the filesystem is mounted with the nosuid option, setuid execution is not allowed.
If you use chmod to change the file group owner permissions on a file with ACL entries, both the file group owner permissions and the ACL
mask are changed to the new permissions. Be aware that the new ACL mask permissions may change the effective permissions for additional
users and groups who have ACL entries on the file. Use the getfacl(1) command to make sure the appropriate permissions are set for all ACL
entries.
SunOS 5.10 4 Dec 2000 chmod(1)