--- title: Linux Permissions Simply explained! #devops #linux description: This video explains how Linux file permission strings work and how to change them with chmod. The 10-character permission string starts with a type flag ('l'... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-permissions-simply-explained-devops-linux-xufgw7xwj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Linux Permissions Simply explained! #devops #linux | daily.dev og:description: This video explains how Linux file permission strings work and how to change them with chmod. The 10-character permission string starts with a type flag ('l'... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-permissions-simply-explained-devops-linux-xufgw7xwj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/xUFGW7xwJ.png og:image:alt: Linux Permissions Simply explained! #devops #linux og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Linux Permissions Simply explained! #devops #linux **[That DevOps Guy](https://daily.dev/sources/marcel-dempers)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary This video explains how Linux file permission strings work and how to change them with chmod. The 10-character permission string starts with a type flag ('l' for symlink, 'd' for directory, '-' for file), followed by three groups of three characters for owner, group, and others (read, write, execute, or '-' for none). Chmod accepts numeric codes, where read=4, write=2, execute=1, so chmod 755 gives the owner full access and group/others read and execute. Chmod also accepts letter syntax, like 'g+w' to add write access for the group only. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What do the characters in a Linux permission string like 'drwxr-xr-x' mean? The string is 10 characters: the first indicates type ('l' for symbolic link, 'd' for directory, '-' for a regular file), followed by three groups of three characters for owner, group, and others. Each group shows read, write, execute, or a hyphen for no access, in that order. _Developers decoding Linux permission strings while securing services can bookmark explainers like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I calculate the chmod 755 permission number? 755 is built from adding read (4), write (2), and execute (1) values per group: the owner gets 4+2+1=7 (read, write, execute), the group gets 4+1=5 (read, execute), and others get 4+1=5 (read, execute). These numeric values are static and always combine the same way. _Anyone setting file permissions on source code or services can find chmod breakdowns like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I use chmod with letters instead of numbers to give only the group write access? Use the symbolic syntax: scope letter (u for user/owner, g for group, o for others, a for all), an operator (+ to add or - to remove), and the permission letter. To add write access only for the group, the command would be chmod g+w, leaving owner and other permissions unchanged. _DevOps engineers tweaking specific access bits without resetting whole permission sets can find syntax guides like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Day 10: File Permission Correction — Going Beyond rwx with Linux ACLs](https://daily.dev/posts/day-10-file-permission-correction-going-beyond-rwx-with-linux-acls-e8gdnbnsb) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#devops](https://daily.dev/tags/devops), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-permissions-simply-explained-devops-linux-xufgw7xwj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Linux Permissions Simply explained! #devops #linux","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-permissions-simply-explained-devops-linux-xufgw7xwj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-permissions-simply-explained-devops-linux-xufgw7xwj"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T10:28:14.395Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T14:08:29.107Z","description":"This video explains how Linux file permission strings work and how to change them with chmod. 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