chmod 755 Explained (rwxr-xr-x)

755 gives the owner full access and everyone else read and execute. Change any bit below to compare.

Type or paste any notation — octal, symbolic, chmod command, ls -l output or relative changes like u+x.

Permissions

	Read (4)	Write (2)	Execute (1)	Octal
Owner (u)				7
Group (g)				5
Others (o)				5

Octal

755

Symbolic

rwxr-xr-x

ls -l

-rwxr-xr-x

symbolic cmd: decimal: 493binary: 000 111 101 101

What 755 means on a file

Owner can read, modify, execute.
Group can read, execute.
Others can read, execute.

Change from an existing mode

755

chmod a+x file

Commands & code

chmod (octal)

chmod 755 file

chmod (symbolic)

chmod u=rwx,go=rx file

Check current mode

stat -c '%a %A %n' file   # Linux
stat -f '%Lp %Sp %N' file  # macOS

Dockerfile

COPY --chmod=755 file /app/file

Ansible

ansible.builtin.file:
  path: file
  mode: "0755"

Kubernetes volume

defaultMode: 493  # = 0755 (JSON needs decimal)

Terraform (local_file)

file_permission = "0755"

Python

import os
os.chmod("file", 0o755)

Node.js

import { chmodSync } from "node:fs";
chmodSync("file", 0o755);

os.Chmod("file", 0755)

Rust

use std::os::unix::fs::PermissionsExt;
std::fs::set_permissions("file", std::fs::Permissions::from_mode(0o755))?;

Git (track the executable bit)

git update-index --chmod=+x file

Common permissions

umask calculator

umask

New files start from 666 and directories from 777; the umask removes bits. Check yours with umask, set it in ~/.bashrc or a systemd unit's UMask=.

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Frequently Asked Questions

For directories, shell scripts, CLI binaries and web server folders that others need to read or enter but not modify.

Run find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} + so directories get 755 while files keep their own mode, usually 644.

Yes for directories. Files inside should normally be 644, and anything with secrets 640 or 600.

u=rwx,go=rx, shown by ls -l as -rwxr-xr-x for files or drwxr-xr-x for directories.

Continue with a nearby utility

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