Changing the file permissions using the chmod command

Change Mode or chmod is a Linux command that is used to modify the access permissions of files and directories. Everybody wants to keep their data secure and properly organized. For this reason, Linux has a concept that associates owners and groups with every file and directory. These owners and groups have different permissions to access a particular file.

Getting ready

Before we take a look at the different usages of the chmod command, we need to know the different types of users and the symbolic representation used:

• u is used for user/owner
• g is used for a group
• o is used for others

Now, create a file called testfile.txt, to try out the different commands of chmod.

How to do it…

Now, we will take a look at how to use chmod in different ways in order to set different permissions:

1. If we want to change a single permission for users (owners, groups, or others), we use the + symbol to add the permission, as shown in the following command...