chmod 741 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

741

Symbolic

rwxr----x

Binary

111 100 001

Risk Level

Low Risk

Summary: chmod 741 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group read, and everyone else execute.

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

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

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

741

rwxr----x

Owner: read/write/execute · Group: read · Others: execute

chmod 741 filename

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

View the full chmod 741 guide →

chmod 741 Breakdown

Class	Digit	Symbolic	On a file	On a directory
Owner (u)	`7`	`rwx`	Full access	Full access: list, enter, create, delete
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 741 Safe?

Low Risk

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

Common Use Cases

741 is uncommon in standard Linux setups. The closest widely used permission is chmod 740.

chmod 741 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 741 filename

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

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 741 /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 741 {} +

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

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

umask Relationship

A umask of 036 makes new directories 741. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 741 mean?

chmod 741 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group read, and everyone else execute. In octal notation, the owner receives 7 (read/write/execute), the group receives 4 (read), and others receive 1 (execute).

Is chmod 741 safe?

chmod 741 is classified as Low Risk. Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

What is chmod 741 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 741 is represented as rwxr----x. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=rwx,g=r,o=x filename".