chmod 212 Permission Explained

Class	Read (4)	Write (2)	Execute (1)	Octal
Owner (u)				2
Group (g)				1
Others (o)				2

setuid (4) setgid (2) sticky bit (1)

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

212

-w---x-w-

Owner: write · Group: execute · Others: write

chmod 212 filename Copy

Critical Risk Anyone on the system can modify or replace this file.

View the full chmod 212 guide →

chmod 212 Breakdown

Is chmod 212 Safe?

Critical Risk

• Anyone on the system can modify or replace this file.
• Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

Common Use Cases

212 is uncommon in standard Linux setups. The closest widely used permission is chmod 600.

chmod 212 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 212 filename

# Apply using equivalent symbolic mode
chmod u=w,g=x,o=w filename

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 212 /path/to/dir
# Note: -R applies the same mode to files and directories. Use find to treat them separately:
find /path/to/dir -type f -exec chmod 212 {} +

# Verify permissions
stat -c '%a %A %n' filename    # Linux
stat -f '%Lp %Sp %N' filename   # macOS

# Example ls -l output:
--w---x-w- 1 alice staff 1024 Jan 15 10:00 example.txt

umask Relationship

A umask of 565 makes new directories 212. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Permissions

Change one bit:

Related Guides