ATTR

Used to examine or change the permissions of files.

Syntax: ATTR filename [<options>] [<permissions>]

Options  :

 -perm = turn off specified permission
  perm = turn on specified permission
 -a = inhibit printing of attrs after change     

Permissions :

 d - directory file
 s - non-sharable file
 r - read permit to owner
 w - write permit to owner
 e - execute permit to owner
 pr - read permit to public
 pw - write permit to public
 pe - execute permit to public

A file with the d permission turned on becomes a directory. A directory with the d permission turned off becomes a regular file - DON'T do it unless the directory is empty!!

To delete a directory, the d permission must be turned off. The DELDIR command does this automatically.

A non-shareable file ( s permission) can not be opened by more than one user or program at the same time. Can be used to prevent different users from modifying the file at the same time.

Examples:

  attr CMDS

Shows the permissions of the CMDS directory.

Results in d-ewrewr

  attr myscript e pe -pw

Turns on the execution permissions for the owner of the file and the public, and turns off the write permission for the public. After this, the file can be executed by anyone, but can be edited only by the owner.

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Equivalent / similar commands in other OSs

• MS-DOS: attrib
• Unix/Linux: chmod