chmod 745 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

745

Symbolic

rwxr--r-x

Binary

111 100 101

Risk Level

Low Risk

Summary: chmod 745 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group read, and everyone else read/execute.

Class	Read (4)	Write (2)	Execute (1)	Octal
Owner (u)				7
Group (g)				4
Others (o)				5

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

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

745

rwxr--r-x

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

chmod 745 filename

Low Risk Any user can read this file — never use it for secrets such as keys or .env files.

View the full chmod 745 guide →

chmod 745 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)	`5`	`r-x`	Read and execute	Can list and enter

Is chmod 745 Safe?

Low Risk

Any user can read this file — never use it for secrets such as keys or .env files.
Unusual: a lower class has permissions the class above it lacks.

Common Use Cases

745 is uncommon in standard Linux setups. The closest widely used permission is chmod 755.

chmod 745 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 745 filename

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

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 745 /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 745 {} +

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

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

umask Relationship

A umask of 032 makes new directories 745. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 745 mean?

chmod 745 gives the owner read/write/execute, the group read, and everyone else read/execute. In octal notation, the owner receives 7 (read/write/execute), the group receives 4 (read), and others receive 5 (read/execute).

Is chmod 745 safe?

chmod 745 is classified as Low Risk. Any user can read this file — never use it for secrets such as keys or .env files.

What is chmod 745 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 745 is represented as rwxr--r-x. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=rwx,g=r,o=rx filename".