chmod 701 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

701

Symbolic

rwx-----x

Binary

111 000 001

Risk Level

Low Risk

Summary: chmod 701 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group no access, and everyone else execute.

Class	Read (4)	Write (2)	Execute (1)	Octal
Owner (u)				7
Group (g)				0
Others (o)				1

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

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

701

rwx-----x

Owner: read/write/execute · Group: no access · Others: execute

chmod 701 filename

Low Risk Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

View the full chmod 701 guide →

chmod 701 Breakdown

Class	Digit	Symbolic	On a file	On a directory
Owner (u)	`7`	`rwx`	Full access	Full access: list, enter, create, delete
Group (g)	`0`	`---`	No access	Cannot list, enter, or modify
Others (o)	`1`	`--x`	Execute only	Can enter (cd) but not list contents

Is chmod 701 Safe?

Low Risk

Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

Common Use Cases

701 is uncommon in standard Linux setups. The closest widely used permission is chmod 700.

chmod 701 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 701 filename

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

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 701 /path/to/dir
# Note: -R applies the same mode to files and directories. Use find to treat them separately:
find /path/to/dir -type d -exec chmod 701 {} +

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

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

umask Relationship

A umask of 076 makes new directories 701. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 701 mean?

chmod 701 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group no access, and everyone else execute. In octal notation, the owner receives 7 (read/write/execute), the group receives 0 (no access), and others receive 1 (execute).

Is chmod 701 safe?

chmod 701 is classified as Low Risk. Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

What is chmod 701 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 701 is represented as rwx-----x. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=rwx,g=,o=x filename".