chmod 442 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

442

Symbolic

r--r---w-

Binary

100 100 010

Risk Level

Critical Risk

Summary: chmod 442 gives the owner read, the group read, and everyone else write.

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

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

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

442

r--r---w-

Owner: read · Group: read · Others: write

chmod 442 filename

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

View the full chmod 442 guide →

chmod 442 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)	`2`	`-w-`	Write only (rarely useful)	No practical effect without x

Is chmod 442 Safe?

Critical Risk

Anyone on the system can modify or replace this file.
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

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

chmod 442 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 442 filename

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

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 442 /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 442 {} +

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

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

umask Relationship

A umask of 335 makes new directories 442 and new files 442. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 442 mean?

chmod 442 gives the owner read, the group read, and everyone else write. In octal notation, the owner receives 4 (read), the group receives 4 (read), and others receive 2 (write).

Is chmod 442 safe?

chmod 442 is classified as Critical Risk. Anyone on the system can modify or replace this file.

What is chmod 442 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 442 is represented as r--r---w-. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=r,g=r,o=w filename".

Related Permissions

Change one bit:

chmod 042 remove owner read chmod 642 add owner write chmod 542 add owner execute chmod 402 remove group read chmod 462 add group write chmod 452 add group execute chmod 446 add others read chmod 440 remove others write chmod 443 add others execute

← chmod 441 chmod 443 →

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