What is CHMOD?

Short for change mode, chmod is a command that changes the access permissions of files or directories in order to read, write or execute files. The mode number consists of three octal digits, representing the access allowed for yourself, for your group (other users set-up on your account), and for everyone else. The value of each digit represents the type of access that is allowed.

4 - ability to read the file
2 - ability to write the file
1 - ability to execute the file

If you wanted to represent the ability to read and write, you would add 4 and 2 together. For example, if you had a Perl script for your website, you might make the mode 755 so that you could read/write/execute (4 + 2 + 1 = 7) the file, whilst other users could only read/execute (4 + 1 = 5) the file. You may give a standard HMTL file, the mode 644 so that you can read and write to it, whilst others can only read it. You would usually make a directory executable, so a directory that others can read would have a mode of 755.

How do I CHMOD using my FTP client?

Using the WS_FTP program, connect to your site and enter the directory containing the script you need to CHMOD. Right click the file or folder in question and select 'chmod (UNIX)' from the menu. The 'Remote File Permissions' window will open and allow you to alter the file permissions. (Note: 'CHMOD' is listed under 'FTP Commands' in WS_FTP version 7+)

This procedure may vary between FTP clients. Please refer to the relevant manual for details. Your chosen FTP programme may not have a CHMOD feature. In this case, look for a feature where you can type a command directly to the FTP server. You can then type your command in the format of 'site chmod 755 file.pl', where the mode of file.pl is changed to 755.

How do I CHMOD using Dreamweaver?

Once you have uploaded your files using the site manager, enter the directory (in the remote site window) that contains the file you wish to chmod. Open the 'Site FTP Log' window from the 'Window' menu. At the 'FTP Command' prompt, type 'site chmod 755 file.pl'. This would change the mode of file.pl to 755.

(File Permissions)

3. Performing chmod with FTP client program

When you set permissions in a FTP client, you are usually presented with a more intuitive and clear interface by right clicking the folder or file. You can easily see what permissions are set for owner/group/others. Here is an example of the chmod

In this example you see both table of the permission assignments, octal numeric value ("644" in the example) and the text value ("-rw-r-r" in the example). To set permissions in the FTP client, you usually select a group of files, and then either click a button, or a menu item. No need to type file names by hand or brainstorm an octal value to supply to chmod command.

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