drwxr-xr--

This may seem like a random string of characters, but strings like this give users all the information that users need to know about the privileges of certain files and directories. We can break this down:

• The first character will be a d or a -. A d stands for directory and a hyphen signifies a file.
• The next three characters represent permissions for the file owner.
• The second set of three characters represent permissions for the file owner's group. Users can be put into groups that are given similar permissions.
• The last three characters represent the permissions for all other users.

Finally, what do r, w, and x stand for?

• r (read). Users can view the file or directory's contents.
• w (write). Users can edit files and directories.
• x (execute). If executable, users can execute files or change into a directory.

Changing Privileges:

Privileges are changed using the chmod command (you may need to use sudo). We will teach you to ways to use this:

1. Format: chmod u+rwx,g+rwx,o+rwx myFile

This format changes the permissions of myFile to rwx for users, rwx for group, and rwx for others. If you want to leave a permission out, you can add only the permissions you want (ex. u+rw). You can also subtract permissions (ex. u-rwx).

2. Format: chmod 254 myFile

This may seem like a random string of characters, but strings like this give users all the information that users need to know about the privileges of certain files and directories. We can break this down:

• 0= ---
• 1= --x
• 2= -w-
• 3= -wx
• 4= r--
• 5= r-x
• 6= rw-
• 7= rwx

Don’t worry if you think you have not grasped these commands yet. We will practice in the next activity.