chmod 441 Permission Explained

Notice: This is an unusual permission set: some classes have more access than the class above them. It is rarely correct in practice.

Octal

441

Symbolic

r--r----x

Binary

100 100 001

Risk Level

Low Risk

Summary: chmod 441 gives the owner read, the group read, and everyone else execute.

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

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

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

441

r--r----x

Owner: read · Group: read · Others: execute

chmod 441 filename

Low Risk Even the owner cannot modify this file without changing permissions first.

View the full chmod 441 guide →

chmod 441 Breakdown

Class	Digit	Symbolic	On a file	On a directory
Owner (u)	`4`	`r--`	Read only	Can list names, but not enter
Group (g)	`4`	`r--`	Read only	Can list names, but not enter
Others (o)	`1`	`--x`	Execute only	Can enter (cd) but not list contents

Is chmod 441 Safe?

Low Risk

Even the owner cannot modify this file without changing permissions first.
Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

Common Use Cases

441 is uncommon in standard Linux setups. The closest widely used permission is chmod 440.

chmod 441 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 441 filename

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

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 441 /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 441 {} +

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

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

umask Relationship

A umask of 336 makes new directories 441. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 441 mean?

chmod 441 gives the owner read, the group read, and everyone else execute. In octal notation, the owner receives 4 (read), the group receives 4 (read), and others receive 1 (execute).

Is chmod 441 safe?

chmod 441 is classified as Low Risk. Even the owner cannot modify this file without changing permissions first.

What is chmod 441 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 441 is represented as r--r----x. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=r,g=r,o=x filename".

Related Permissions

Change one bit:

chmod 041 remove owner read chmod 641 add owner write chmod 541 add owner execute chmod 401 remove group read chmod 461 add group write chmod 451 add group execute chmod 445 add others read chmod 443 add others write chmod 440 remove others execute

← chmod 440 chmod 442 →

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