Read permissions
Quest: read-permissions
Mission
From ~/playground, add owner execute permission to permission-demo.txt, then run ls -l permission-demo.txt and explain its file type plus the owner, group, and other permission triplets.
Commands You Will Use
chmodls -l
Steps
- Run
mkdir -p ~/playground, thencd ~/playground. - Run
touch permission-demo.txt. - Run
ls -l permission-demo.txt. - Run
chmod u+x permission-demo.txt, thenls -l permission-demo.txtagain. - Identify the first character as the file type and read the owner, group, and other triplets.
- Answer the guide with what each class can do in this final state.
A file that started with -rw-r--r-- now has this permission string:
-rwxr--r-- 1 username username 0 Aug 8 10:00 permission-demo.txt
The owner’s rwx allows reading, writing, and execution. chmod u+x does not change group or other permissions. Read your actual listing if those triplets differ.
Hints
-means regular file anddmeans directory.- The next three characters are owner permissions.
- The next two triplets belong to group and other users.
If Check Fails
Run chmod u+x permission-demo.txt and ls -l permission-demo.txt again. Name the file type plus what owner, group, and other users can do in that listing.

Linux Foundations