The following table lists and describes the permissions that you can give to each user class for a file.
Table 16–1 File Permissions
Symbol |
Permission |
Description |
---|---|---|
r |
Read |
Designated users can open and read the contents of a file. |
w |
Write |
Designated users can write to the file (modify its contents), add to it, or delete it. |
x |
Execute |
Designated users can execute the file (if it is a program or shell script), or run the program with one of the exec(2) system calls. |
- |
Denied |
Designated users cannot read, write, or execute the file. |
These file permissions apply to special files such as devices, sockets, and named pipes (FIFOs), as they do to regular files.
For a symbolic link, the permissions that apply are the permissions of the file that the link points to.