How do I change permissions for a folder and its subfolders/files? [closed]

Question

How do I change the permissions of a folder and all its subfolders and files?

This only applies to the /opt/lampp/htdocs folder, not its contents:

chmod 775 /opt/lampp/htdocs

How do I set chmod 755 for all of the /opt/lampp/htdocs folder's current contents, as well as automatically in the future for new folders/files created under it?

Nicholle

Are you trying to script the command? Perhaps bash, csh or zsh? – Crossbench

Did you intend to write chmod 75 /opt/lampp/htdocs or should that really be chmod 755 /opt/lampp/htdocs? – Yard

sudo chown -R username:group directory .............It will change ownership (both user and group) of all files and directories inside of directory and directory itself. – Elective

@ArthurDent, because this question (while perfectly valid and helpful) is more suited to a system-focused SE site, such as SuperUser or ServerFault. It's not expressly related to programming. – Hacienda

@Hacienda Sure, but I ask again, why are "permissions", "folder", and "cmod" tags? When would cmod ever be used 'expressly' for programming? – Donniedonnish

@Hacienda Couldn't this question be about programming in bash? – Ammieammine

If you want to get really picky, Bash is actually a scripting language, but then so is php, which SO doesn't seem to mind. – Hacienda

So where's the link to this (obviously very helpful) question on a more appropriate SE site? – Blacktail

Its both. scripting question and configuration topic. That is why its closed and not migrated. – Rickierickman

@Hacienda linux commands are programming, whoever says otherwise probably really likes adding these crazya** commands into linux core & distros. ANYWAYS program name + arguments is a language construct, and even from the natural language point of view this is the very definition of program-ing x) . – Organology

this work for me -> sudo chmod -R -f 777 /home/$USER/$APP_ROOT – Farrington

In my case, I also needed to add the "x" flag for executable scripts: find . -type f -name "*.sh" -exec chmod +x {} \; – Petrography

Answer 1

The other answers are correct, in that chmod -R 755 will set these permissions to all files and subfolders in the tree. But why on earth would you want to? It might make sense for the directories, but why set the execute bit on all the files?

I suspect what you really want to do is set the directories to 755 and either leave the files alone or set them to 644. For this, you can use the find command. For example:

To change all the directories to 755 (drwxr-xr-x):

find /opt/lampp/htdocs -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

To change all the files to 644 (-rw-r--r--):

find /opt/lampp/htdocs -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Some splainin': ^{(thanks @tobbez)}

• chmod 755 {} specifies the command that will be executed by find for each directory
• chmod 644 {} specifies the command that will be executed by find for each file
• {} is replaced by the path
• ; the semicolon tells find that this is the end of the command it's supposed to execute
• \; the semicolon is escaped, otherwise it would be interpreted by the shell instead of find

Inesinescapable

"but why set the execute bit on all the files" Why not? I'm new to Ubuntu/Linux... – Hepcat

@Hepcat Womble is setting the execute bit exclusively on the directories returned by find. The execute permission on a directory allows a user class to list the contents of that directory and to cd into it. Generally speaking you want both r and x on a directory for it to be accessible to you, even though there might be strange edge cases where you'd set only one or the other. See this guide for more info: nixsrv.com/llthw/ex23 – Hospitalize

With the exception of sleepynate, every response neglected to address the aspect of his question regarding the setting of permissions to files/folders created in the future. – Caracal

@tobbez doesn't the {} \; pass the output of find into the chmod command? In other words, I would think that {} \; specifies the parameters (file/path) that are passed from the find command to be subsequently received by, in this case, the chmod command's pipeline. – Nugget

Hmm.. a sticky question to inherit. Further, what about fstab ? Generally many LAMP apps (WP, say) want or expect 755 on everything under docroot, and the 600's are managed by exception elsewhere. But do validate for CIFS mounts as chmod can be ignored despite success being reported. (Not to suggest remote storage under www or alternative location.) – Haphtarah

@Haphtarah Was that a subtle allusion (set the sticky bit and contents will inherit permissions?) – Townsley

Yeah, trying not to get chatty, none of the answers cover the v or c flags either, which when used recursively confirm or echo the changed artifacts. Good for assessing "drift". A WP user of old, I liked the "Serverbuddy" plugin, which would check a site for 755. Didn't want to get into chown or sticky bits, or the next thing we know we are talking about ACL and third party schemes. chmod 755 -Rc {target} works. – Haphtarah

For this, I had to do /path/to/directory/* to get it to work. Hope this helps somebody. – Inness

You should wrap at least the placeholder into single quotes, so that potentially existing spaces in filenames do not result in multiple arguments; i.e.: -exec chmod 755 '{}' \; — …and when using single quotes for the placeholder, it is easier to remember the possibility of escaping the semicolon with single quotes as well; i.e.: -exec chmod 755 '{}' ';' – Antonetta

Duckduckgo shows this answer for the search linux make directories public and files public chmod – Hobnailed

Wouldn't you want 755 on a directory of executable scripts? – Darwindarwinian

When I do this, new files that are being created inside the directory are not inheriting the correct permissions, this command works fine on any existing files but every time I make a new file I need to run the command again. – Whall

It doesn't work for me :( it iterates through a bunch of empty string directories. I think it's because I'm in fish and not bash. I should just switch back to bash. – Janik

Just to add, I also added -maxdepth 1 to the command to make it quicker in my case, as I only needed to apply to new folders created in the root of the target and not to all existing subfolders of those (which already had the permission, else wouldn't exist) – Mealymouthed

" It might make sense for the directories" if this is not clear for anyone, that is because a user needs execute permission on the directory to traverse/open it. source – Principled

Related: Change all folder permissions with one command at U & L. – Juvenile

chmodcommand.com can be used to translate the octal strangeness. For example, https://chmodcommand.com/chmod-755/, https://chmodcommand.com/chmod-644/, and https://chmodcommand.com/chmod-777/. – Newsmagazine

\+ instead of \; works faster. – Assessor

Answer 2

Check the -R option

chmod -R <permissionsettings> <dirname>

In the future, you can save a lot of time by checking the man page first:

man <command name>

So in this case:

man chmod

Spy

it stands for manual page and is a linux command that shows the man page for a command (most linux commands have a man page). try man ls or man man. – Spy

This did not work for me in the Terminal in Mac OS X. There I did "chmod -R <permissionsettings> <dirname>*" and it worked. – Metsky

@SteveRobillard One concern with the solution though, when it comes to x / execute permission, when you are doing -x; you don't want to accidentally make a directly not cdable. – Crenshaw

Answer 3

If you want to set permissions on all files to a+r, and all directories to a+x, and do that recursively through the complete subdirectory tree, use:

chmod -R a+rX *

The X (that is capital X, not small x!) is ignored for files (unless they are executable for someone already) but is used for directories.

Anacardiaceous

Great answer. Just note that * will not match hidden files (names beginning with a dot). It may make more sense, then, to use . (for the current directory). – Rioux

This won't remove x on files if they already have it. – Whinchat

In case it's not entirely clear, uppercase X means "make all directories executable" (but not files). – Majuscule

@BenoitDuffez if your goal is to also remove the executable bit from files, you can combine directives, like "a-x+rX" to remove "x" from everything and then set "r" to everything and "x" to directories only. – Frith

In chmod -R a+rX and chmod -R g+wX, a is all and g is group. There is also u user/owner and o other. In those commands, you're adding a read/write bit and an execute bit (capital X denotes "only if the file is a directory") – Indolence

Great. So what I regularly want to do when I re-chmod my folder is: sudo chmod -R u+rwX,g+rwX,o+rX . setting 664 on files, and 775 on folders. – Spirituality

sudo chmod -R a=-x,u=rwX,g=,o= folder will set owner rw, others no access, directory with rwx. This will clear existing x on files – Hughmanick

I don't think combining like "a-x+rX" works to ensure x is set on directories only, since it's done in one atomic operation and X sets execute on result if the original file has it set. Instead in order to get it to work, I had to do this in two steps, sudo chmod -R a-x then sudo chmod -R a+rX – Detumescence

Answer 4

You can use -R with chmod for recursive traversal of all files and subfolders.

You might need sudo as it depends on LAMP being installed by the current user or another one:

sudo chmod -R 755 /opt/lampp/htdocs

Uriia

Somehow, sudo chmod 755 -R /directory didn't work but sudo chmod -R 755 /directory did. Weird. I'm using Mac os x by the way. – Fever

This is correct in my experience. The flag must appear directly after chmod, not anywhere in the string. – Weldon

Above written command is wrong. The correct recursive command is: sudo chmod -R 755 /opt/lampp/htdocs Note: -R should be before 755 – Madea

should be edited, doesn't work on mac osx without pedantic syntax. – Rickierickman

OSX USSING: sudo chmod 777 logs/ -R GETTING: chmod: -R: No such file or directory SHOULD BE: sudo chmod -R 777 logs/ – Affusion

Answer 5

The correct recursive command is:

sudo chmod -R 755 /opt/lampp/htdocs

-R: change every sub folder including the current folder

Erysipeloid

hi you sure about current folder you are one despite the path? – Oleson

Answer 6

To set to all subfolders (recursively) use -R

chmod 755 /folder -R

Lights

this sets all to 755, including files.! – Tyrus

Answer 7

chmod 755 -R /opt/lampp/htdocs will recursively set the permissions. There's no way to set the permissions for files automatically in only this directory that are created after you set the permissions, but you could change your system-wide default file permissions with by setting umask 022.

Clavichord

sleepynate's answer is the ONLY correct one. The poster asked two questions: 1) How do I fix permissions on files and folders, and 2) how do I change the defaults (meaning "future" files). As nate said, the first is with "chmod", and the second is with "umask". I'd also add that there is NO WAY to change umask on just 1 directory... umask is "all or nothing" per user. However nothing stops you from creating a new user, who shares groups with you, so that you can just 'sudo -u someuser [create file]". That's thinking outside the box a little, but it's a fine workaround. – Antrim

I think you are right, but can't inherit be a solution to many cases or will it work with NTFS-3G exclusively? – Sonority

without give permission to folders may be created in the future, one may not be able to copy a folder,say myforlder from other places(like a PC) to this target directory(on a server) cause it will try to create a new folder in the target directory with name myfolder which you do not have permission to do so. As I have root, I just use chown -R username:usergroup /directory. – Jillene

Answer 8

You might want to consider this answer given by nik on Super User and use "one chmod" for all files/folders like this:

chmod 755 $(find /path/to/base/dir -type d)
chmod 644 $(find /path/to/base/dir -type f)

Cyprinodont

Warning, it's easy to run into command line limits. – Desmonddesmoulins

I have this error: -bash: /bin/chmod: Argument list too long – Aged

It would be better to use the -exec option of find in order to overcome the Argument list too long error. – Opera

Related: Change all folder permissions with one command at U & L. – Juvenile

Agree with @Opera – find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;&& find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \; – Wernsman

Answer 9

Here's another way to set directories to 775 and files to 664.

find /opt/lampp/htdocs \
\( -type f -exec chmod ug+rw,o+r {} \; \) , \
\( -type d -exec chmod ug+rwxs,o+rx {} \; \)

It may look long, but it's pretty cool for three reasons:

1. Scans through the file system only once rather than twice.
2. Provides better control over how files are handled vs. how directories are handled. This is useful when working with special modes such as the sticky bit, which you probably want to apply to directories but not files.
3. Uses a technique straight out of the man pages (see below).

Note that I have not confirmed the performance difference (if any) between this solution and that of simply using two find commands (as in Peter Mortensen's solution). However, seeing a similar example in the manual is encouraging.

Example from man find page:

find / \
\( -perm -4000 -fprintf /root/suid.txt %#m %u %p\n \) , \
\( -size +100M -fprintf /root/big.txt %-10s %p\n \)

Traverse the filesystem just once, listing setuid files and direct‐
tories into /root/suid.txt and large files into /root/big.txt.

Shakeup

People, please use xargs. It saves thousands of process invocations. – Respire

{} + can do the same thing with find that xargs does in general. – Beyer

Answer 10

Use:

sudo chmod 755 -R /whatever/your/directory/is

However, be careful with that. It can really hurt you if you change the permissions of the wrong files/folders.

Mucin

Answer 11

chmod -R 755 directory_name works, but how would you keep new files to 755 also? The file's permissions becomes the default permission.

Distinct

Answer 12

For Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), it is:

chmod -R 755 /directory

And yes, as all other say, be careful when doing this.

Sincerity

Answer 13

There are two answers to finding files and applying chmod to them.

The first one is find the file and apply chmod as it finds (as suggested by @WombleGoneBad).

find /opt/lampp/htdocs -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

The second solution is to generate a list of all files with the find command and supply this list to the chmod command (as suggested by @lamgesh).

chmod 755 $(find /path/to/base/dir -type d)

Both of these versions work nicely as long as the number of files returned by the find command is small. The second solution looks great to the eye and is more readable than the first one. If there are a large number of files, the second solution returns an error: Argument list too long.

So my suggestion is

1. Use chmod -R 755 /opt/lampp/htdocs if you want to change the permissions of all files and directories at once.
2. Use find /opt/lampp/htdocs -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \; if the number of files you are using is very large. The -type x option searches for a specific type of file only, where d is used for finding the directory, f for file and l for link.
3. Use chmod 755 $(find /path/to/base/dir -type d) otherwise
4. Better to use the first one in any situation

Cnut

Answer 14

For anyone still struggling with permission issues, navigate up one directory level cd .. from the root directory of your project, add yourself (user) to the directory and give permission to edit everything inside (tested on macOS).

To do that you would run this command (preferred):

sudo chown -R username: foldername .*

Note: for currently unsaved changes, one might need to restart the code editor first to be able to save without being asked for a password.

Also, please remember you can press Tab to see the options while typing the username and folder to make it easier for yourself.

---

Or simply:

sudo chmod -R 755 foldername

but as mentioned above, you need to be careful with the second method.

Annaleeannaliese

Answer 15

You want to make sure that appropriate files and directories are chmod-ed/permissions for those are appropriate. For all directories you want

find /opt/lampp/htdocs -type d -exec chmod 711 {} \;

And for all the images, JavaScript, CSS, HTML...well, you shouldn't execute them. So use

chmod 644 img/* js/* html/*

But for all the logic code (for instance PHP code), you should set permissions such that the user can't see that code:

chmod 600 file

Housebound

Answer 16

I think Adam was asking how to change the umask value for all processes that are trying to operate on the /opt/lampp/htdocs directory.

The user file-creation mode mask (umask) is used to determine the file permissions for newly created files. It can be used to control the default file permissions for new files.

so if you will use some kind of FTP program to upload files into /opt/lampp/htdocs you need to configure your FTP server to use the umask you want.

If files / directories need be created, for example, by PHP, you need to modify the PHP code:

<?php
    umask(0022);
    // Other code
?>

If you will create new files / folders from your Bash session, you can set umask value in your shell profile ~/.bashrc file.

Or you can set up a umask in /etc/bashrc or /etc/profile file for all users.

Add the following to the file:

umask 022

Sample umask Values and File Creation Permissions
If umask value set to    User permission     Group permission     Others permission
000                            all                 all                   all
007                            all                 all                   none
027                            all             read / execute               none

And to change permissions for already created files, you can use find.

Exchangeable

Answer 17

You can change permissions by using the following command:

sudo chmod go+rwx /opt/lampp/htdocs

Gq

Answer 18

It's very simple.

In Terminal, go to the file manager. Example: sudo nemo. Go to /opt/, and then click Properties → Permission. And then Other. Finally, change to create and delete and file access to read and write and click on button Apply... And it works.

Greenburg

what is sudo nemo? – Stunner

nemo is the graphical file manager for Cinnamon. It may or may not be installed and requires you to be running a graphical environment. – Casern

please indicate that this is for the desktop os. – Stabler

*only for linux mint – Athenian

Answer 19

Use:

sudo chmod -R a=-x,u=rwX,g=,o= folder

Owner rw, others no access, and directory with rwx. This will clear the existing 'x' on files.

The symbolic chmod calculation is explained in Chmod 744.

Hughmanick